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THE POEMS OF 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 



EDITED BY 

KILLIS CAMPBELL 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 



GINN AND COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON . 
ATLANTA • DALLAS • COLUMBUS • SAN FRANCISCO 






COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY 
KILLIS CAMPBELL 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
417-7 



SEP 13 1917 



aCjie gtfiengmn agrettg 

GINN AND COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON ■ U.S.A. 

©CI.A476015 



TO 

HENRY P. MILLIARD 

IN TOKEN OF GRATITUDE AND ESTEEM 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 



PREFACE , 

This edition of Poe's Poems includes all the poems collected 
either by the poet himself or by his literary executor, Rufus W. 
Griswold. I have endeavored to give also a complete and accu- 
rate record of the multifarious revisions made by the poet in 
republishing his verses — a matter of extreme importance for the 
understanding of his art ; and I have departed from former 
editors in presenting these at the foot of the page along with the 
text to which they refer, where alone they may be easily consulted. 
In the Notes — and here, again, I have departed from former edi- 
tors — I have given a full and detailed commentary on each of the 
poems. From the vast body of material, biographical, historical, 
critical, and interpretative, that has been written about Poe, I have 
endeavored to garner whatever will contribute to a truer under- 
standing of his poems or to a juster appreciation of them. And 
where comment from others was wanting or seemed inadequate, 
I have attempted to supply the deficiency by researches of my 
own. In particular, I have addressed myself to the following 
matters : the circumstances of composition and publication of 
each of the poems, the relation of the poems to each other and 
to the tales, the poet's relation to other poets and to his time, the 
autobiographical element in his verses, and the judgments passed 
on his work by his contemporaries. 

In the Introduction I have set forth the main facts of the poet's 
life, adding certain details of my own discovery ; and I have also 
dealt there with questions of authenticity and authority of text, with 
the nature and the worth of the poet's textual revisions, with his 
sources, and with the diversity of opinion respecting his achieve- 
ment as poet. 

V 



vi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

At the end of the collected poems I have brought together four 
early poems not included by Poe in his collective edition of 1845, 
and following these I have given most of the poems doubtfully 
attributed to him. Che poems of doubtful authenticity I have in- 
cluded reluctantly, since none of them are worthy of Poe, and 
some of them, we can be reasonably sure, are not the work of his 
hand ; but I have felt that the student is entitled to have them 
before him. 

The portrait which serves as the frontispiece of this volume is 
from a painting of Poe by the Philadelphia artist, A. C. Smith, 
and is reproduced from Grahani's Magazine for February, 1845. 
It represents the poet as he appeared shortly before the publica- 
tion of his most famous poem. 

In preparing this edition I have naturally put myself under 
deep obligations to my predecessors. I have endeavored to make 
acknowledgment of all obligations as they occur, but I wish to 
make special acknowledgment of my indebtedness to Professor 
George E. Woodberry and the late Mr. John H. Ingram, to 
whom we owe our best biographies of Poe, and to the late Pro- 
fessor James A. Harrison, to whom we are indebted for the fullest 
edition of Poe's writings. I wish also to make grateful acknowl- 
edgment of the courtesy of the Century Club of New York City, 
in permitting me to avail myself of the revisions made by Poe in 
the well-known Lorimer Graham copy of his collected poems, and 
to Mr. J. P. Morgan, of New York City, for his courtesy in allow- 
ing me to profit in like manner by several valuable manuscripts of 
Poe owned by him. I wish, too, to express my gratitude to Pro- 
fessor \^'. P. Trent, of Columbia University, and to the late Miss 
Amelia F, Poe, of Baltimore, for many kindnesses. Most of all, I 
am indebted to two of my colleagues of the LTniversity of Texas, 
Professors Morgan Callaway, Jr., and R. H. Griffith, who have 
read patiently the proof sheets for this volume and have given me 

many helpful suggestions and criticisms. 

KILLIS CAMPBELL 
Austin, Texas 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 

I. The Main Facts in the Life of Poe xi 

II. The Canon of Poe's Poems xxvii 

III. The Text of Poe's Poems xxxi 

IV. Poe's Passion for Revising his Text xxxv 

V. Poe's Indebtedness to Other Poets xliv 

VI. The Clash of the Critics with respect to Poe's Poems . . liv 

Table of Abbreviations Ixv 

Text of the Poems 

Tamerlane (147) i 

Song (156) 21 

Dreams (157) 22 

Spirits of the Dead (158)' 23 

Evening Star (160) 25 

A Dream within a Dream (161) 26 

Stanzas (163) 28 

A Dream (166) 30 

"The Happiest Day, the Happiest Hour " (166) 31 

The Lake: To -(167) 32 

Sonnet To Science (169) 33 

Al Aaraaf (171) 34- 

Romance {192) 49 

To (" The bowers whereat," etc.) (194) 51 

To the River (i95) 51 

To ("I heed not," etc.) (196) 52 

Fairy-Land (197) 53 

To Helen (199) 56 

Israfel (203) 57 

The City in the Sea (207) 59 

The Sleeper (211) 63 

Lenore (214) 68 

The Valley of Unrest (217) 72 

The Coliseum (21S) 72 

vii 



vm THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

PAGE 

To One in Paradise (221) 77 

Hymn (222) 78 

To F (224) 79 

To F s S. O d (226) 80 

Scenes from " Politian " (227) 80 

Bridal Ballad (234) 100 

Sonnet — To Zante (235) 102 

The Haunted Palace {237) 102 

Sonnet — -Silence (240) 104 

The Conqueror Worm (242) 105 

Dream-Land (244) 107 

The Raven (246) 109 

Eulalie — A Song (259) 114 

A Valentine (261) 115 

To M. L. S (264) 116 

Ulalume — A Ballad (265) • n? 

An Enigma (276) 121 

To (277) 121 

The Bells (27S) 122 

To Helen (283) 126 

Eldorado (2S6) 128 

For Annie (287) 129 

To my Mother (291) 133 

Annabel Lee (293) 134 

Uncollected Verses 

Elizabeth (297) 136 

An Acrostic (297) 136 

Latin Hymn (298) 137 

Song of Triumph (298) . 137 

Poems Attributed to Poe 

Alone (299) .-138 

A West Point Lampoon (299) 138 

Lines to Louisa (299) 139 

To Sarah (300) 139 

Ballad (301) 140 

Fragment of a Campaign Song (301) 141 

Impromptu : To Kate Carol (302) 142 

The Departed (302) 142 

The Divine Right of Kings (303) 143 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGE 

Stanzas (303) 144 

Gratitude (304) 145 

Notes 147 

Appendix 

Collation of the Editions Published by Poe 305 

1827 305 

1829 306 

1831 307 

1845 308 

Prefaces and Prefatory Notices 309 

The Philosophy of Composition 318 

Index of First Lines 329 

Index of Titles 331 



INTRODUCTION 



I. THE MAIN FACTS IN THE LIFE OF POE 

Edgar Allan Poe was bom at Boston on Januaty 19, 1809.^ 
His father, David Poe, Jr., was a native of Baltimore ; his mother, 
whose rnaiden name was Elizabeth Arnold, was born in England, 
but came to America in youth. '^ There were two other children : 
William Henry, bom in 1807, and Rosalie MacKenzie, born in 
iSio.^ Poe's parents were both actors, his mother displaying 
larger gifts than his father, though neither one attained to dis- 
tinction. Their acting was confined to the American cities along 

^ The chief biographies of Poe are those of George E. Woodberry 
[Edgar Allan Poe, published at Boston in 1885, and in a revised edition in 
two volumes in 1909) and John H. Ingram {Life and Letters of Edgar 
Allan Poe, first published in two volumes at London in iSSo, and later 
in a single volume, but enlarged, in 18S6). Among other biographies of 
Poe are those of James A. Harrison (the first volume of the "Virginia 
Poe," New York, 1902), William F. Gill (77^,? Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 
New York, 1877), Mrs. S. A. Weiss {The Home Life of Poe, New York, 
1907), and John Macy {Edgar Allan Poe, Boston, 1907), and the prefatory- 
memoirs of Rufus W. Griswold ( The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, New 
York, 1850, III, pp. xxi-lv), E. L. Didier {Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, 
New York, 1877, pp. 19-129), R. H. Stoddard {The Works of Kigar Allan 
Poe, New York [1884], I, pp. 1-200), and J. H. Whitty {The Complete Poems 
of Edgar Allan Poe, Boston, 191 1, pp. xix-lxxxvi). The seventeenth volume 
of the " Virginia Poe " contains a collection of Poe's letters. 

2 The date of David Poe's birth is given in the records of the First 
Presbyterian Church, lialtimore, as July 18, 17S4. Mrs. Poe was born in 
1786 or 1787 ; see the article of Professor C. A. Smith in the Philadelphia 
Public Ledger for May 25, 1913. She was first married in 1802 to C. D. 
Hopkins, who died in October, 1S05. Her marriage to David Poe took 
place late in 1S05 or early in 1S06 (see Woodberry, I, pp. 7, 9, 361). 

3 William Henry Poe died in 183 1 (the date of his burial is given in the 
records of the First Presbyterian Church at Baltimore as August 2, 1831) 
Rosalie Poe died July 22, 1874. 



xii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

the Atlantic coast, from Portland to Savannah.^ Poe's mother 
died in Richmond on December 8, 1811. His father probably 
died in the same year, though neither the time nor the place 
of his death is known with certainty.^ 

Shortly after the death of his mother, young Edgar was adopted 
by John Allan, a well-to-do merchant of Richmond.^ Tradition 
has it that he was petted and spoiled by Mr. Allan and his wife, 
and it is well established that he was devoted to Mrs. Allan. Pre- 
served among the manuscript treasures of the Library of Congress 
at \\^ashington are the business papers and office books of 
Mr. Allan's firm, Ellis & Allan, and in these we catch from time to 
time glimpses of the child as he grew into youth and manhood."^ 
In the summer of 18 12, we learn from one of the letters in this 
collection, he went with Mrs. Allan to a health resort in the 
mountains of Virginia, where he impressed a Baltimore guest 
who saw him there as being both a " good " and a " pretty " 
boy ; from another letter we learn that he suffered from an attack 

1 See Woodberry, I, pp. 358 f. 

2 From a contemporary notice of Mrs. Poe, quoted by Woodberry 
(I, pp. 363 f.), it would appear that David Poe died in Norfolk in the 
summer of 1811 ; but Poe wrote to a cousin, William Poe, of Georgia, 
in 1835, *^^*- ^^^ father's death occurred after the death of his mother 
{Letters, p. 15). 

3 There is no evidence that he was ever legally adopted by Mr. Allan, 
though Poe's relatives in Baltimore apparently understood that this was 
Mr. Allan's intention, and Poe did not abandon the hope of succeeding to 
all, or a part, of Mr. Allan's fortune until after the latter's second marriage 
in 1S30. On his death, however, in 1S34, he left Poe nothing. See on this 
point the early letter of his aunt, Mrs. Herring, in the Se-cuatiee Revieic, XX, 
pp. 202 f.; his letter to Kennedy written in November, 1834 (Woodberry, 
I, p. 104) ; and the reminiscences of T. H. Ellis in the Richmond 
(Virginia) Standard of May 7, 1S81. There is also a tradition that the 
Allans originally had no idea of adopting Poe, but only meant to take care 
of him till relatives in Baltimore could be reached ; see the article of 
C. M. Graves in the Centujy Magazine, XLV, pp. 909 f., and Mrs. Weiss, 
pp. 6, ID. 

* See the articles by the present editor in Modem Language Notes for 
April, 1910 (XXV, pp. 127!), and the Sewanee R&view for April, 1912 
(XX, pp. 201 f.). 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

of whooping-cough in the spring and summer of 1813 ; and a 
third letter reveals the fact that he was put to school with the 
Richmond schoolmaster, William Ewing, at some time in the 
winter or spring of 1814-1815.^ 

In June, 18 15, Mr. and Mrs. Allan, with Edgar and a sister of 
Mrs. Allan, sailed for England, where Mr. Allan set up a branch 
of his business house. The family went first after their arrival at 
Liverpool on a trip into Scotland for a visit with Mr. Allan's 
relatives there ; but early in October they settled down in London ; 
and there they remained for the next five years. During most of 
the first year (possibly the first two years) of his stay in London, 
Poe attended a school kept by the Misses Dubourg at 146 
Sloane Street, Chelsea ; ^ but his last three years were spent at 
the academy of the Reverend John Bransby at Stoke Newington, 
whose establishment he professes to describe in his story William 
Wilson? That his progress at the latter school was satisfactory is 
attested both by " Dr." Bransby, who recalled him in after years 
as a " quick and clever boy " (though " spoilt "),^ and by Mr. Allan, 
who in 18 1 8 wrote to his partner in Richmond: "Edgar is a 
fine boy and reads Latin pretty sharply," and a year later described 
him as being " a good scholar " and as " both able and willing to 
receive instruction." ^ 

In 18 19 the London branch of the firm of Ellis & Allan found 
itself unable to meet its business engagements, and the following 
summer Mr. Allan returned to Virginia. Poe now attended for 
several years an academy in Richmond conducted, first, by Joseph 
H. Clarke and later by William Burke ; and it is said that in 1825 
he studied for some time under private tutors.^ One of his chief 
diversions at this time was swimming. On one occasion, so he 



^ Seivanee Review, XX, pp. 202-203. 

2 'See the Dial iox February 17, 1916, and for May 11, 1916. 

8 See the London Athencetim for October 19, 1878, p. 496. 

* Ibid., p. 497. 

^ Sewanee Revierv, XX, pp. 205-206. 

" Woodberry, I, p. 29 ; Mrs. Weiss, p. 45. 



xiv THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

boastingly declared in a letter to the Soiifhern Literary Messenger 
in 1835/ h^ swam a distance of six miles in the James River " in 
a hot June sun " and " against one of the strongest tides ever 
known in the river." There is record also of his connection with 
a youthful military company ; ^ of his having taken active part in 
certain school-boy theatrical performances ; ° and of his winning a 
prize in declamation.* It is said that he was also gifted at drawing, 
and that he was extremely fond of music.^ It appears that he had 
few intimate friends at this time, but there is abundant testimony 
that he was a leader in his classes. 

But at some time after his return to Richmond — perhaps as 
early as 1823 — an estrangement had begun to grow up between 
Poe and his foster-father, who was at times overindulgent, at times 
stem and unforgiving; and in November, 1824, we find Mr. Allan 
complaining in a letter to Poe's brother, William Henry, who was 
living with his relatives in Baltimore, that Edgar had lost all sense 
of gratitude to him and had become "quite miserable, sulky, and ill- 
tempered to all the Family."® How far Poe was to blame for this 

1 1, p. 468. 

^ Calendar of Virginia State Papers, X, p. 518. 

8 Harrison, I, pp. 28 f. 

4 T. H. Ellis, Richmond Staiidard, May 7, 18S1. 

^ AppU-ton's Journal, May, 1878 (new series, IV, p. 429). 

6 This letter, inasmuch as it furnishes important testimony as to the rela- 
tions of Allan and his ward at this time and has escaped the biographers of 
Poe, I give here in its entirety (save for the omission of a single sentence). 

Dear Heni^-, Richmond NovT i. 1824. 

I have just seen your letter of tlie 25th ult. to Edgar and am much afflicted, that 
he has not written you. He has had little else to do for me he does nothing & seems 
quite miserable, sulky, and ill-tempered to all the Family. How we have acted to pro- 
duce this is beyond my conception why I have put up so long with his conduct is 
little less wonderful. The boy possesses not a Spark of affection for us not a particle 
of gratitude for all my care and kindness towards him. I have given a much superior 
Education than ever I received myself. If Rosalie has to relie on any affection from 
him God in his mercy preser\-e her — I fear his associates have led him to adopt 
a line of thinking & acting y&ry contran.' to what he possessed when in England. 
I feel proudly the difference between your principles & his & hence my desire to 
Stand as I ought to do in your Estimation. Had I done my dnty as faithfully to my 
God as I have to Edgar, then had Death come when he will had no terrors for me, 
but I must end this with a devout wish that God may yet bless him & you & that 



INTRODUCTION xv 

estrangement we shall probably never know; though in later years 
he admitted ^ that he had been guilty of " many follies " in youth. 

The sympathy that was lacking at home was supplied in part 
in the homes of certain of his neighbors. According to a story 
which has probably been exaggerated in some of its details, he 
found a sympathetic friend in Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard, the 
mother of one of his school-fellows, to whom he became deeply 
devoted and of whom he made a confidante in his boyish ambi- 
tions and sorrows. This lady died in 1824, but the poet remained 
loyal to her memory throughout his career.^ Sympathy of another 
sort he found at the home of another neighbor. In 1825 or 
earlier he had become acquainted with Miss Sarah Elmira Royster, 
the daughter of a friend of the Allan family ; the two fell desper- 
ately in love, and before Poe left for the University of Virginia, 
in February, 1826, he had obtained her promise to marry him. 
But his letters to Miss Royster fell into the hands of her father, 
who destroyed them ; and she, assuming that his love had grown 
cold, soon engaged herself to another.^ 

Poe's career at the University of Virginia was confined to a 
single year. The University -then opened its doors in February, 
and ended the session in December. Poe matriculated on Feb- 
ruary 14, 1826. He stood well in his classes, as is established 
by the official records for the year, excelling in French and Latin ; * 

Sucess may crown all your endeavors & between you your poor Sister Rosalie may 
not suffer. . . . Believe me Dear Henry we take an affectionate interest in your 
destinies and our United Prayers will be that the God of Heaven will bless & pro- 
tect you. rely on him my Brave & excellent Boy who is willing & ready to save 
to the uttermost. May he keep you. in Danger preserve you always is the prayer of 
your Friend & Servant 

John Allan 

1 In a letter to J. P. Kennedy (Woodberry, I, p. 104). 

"^ See, for further particulars, the notes on the earlier lines To Helen. 

^ For further details see the notes on Tamerlane; see also Miss Royster's 
reminiscences in AppUton's Joimial, May, 1878, and the article of E. M. 
Alfriend, "Unpublished Recollections of Edgar Allan Poe," in the Literacy 
Era; August, 1901. 

* See Ingram, p. 37 ; Harrison, I, p. 61 ; and Professor C. W. Kent's 
article " Poe's Student Days at the University of Virginia " in the New 
York Bookman for July, 1901 (also in the Bookman for January, 1917). 



xvi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

and he appears to have enjoyed the respect of all his instructors. 
By his own confession, however, he drank to excess while at Char- 
lottesville — though his statement that he "led a very dissipated 
life " ^ is no doubt an exaggeration — and he gambled, and he ulti- 
mately fell into debt. Before the end of the year he had contracted 
gambling debts of upwards of two thousand dollars.^ These, or most 
of them, Mr. Allan refused to pay, and at the same time it was 
decreed that Poe should not continue his studies at the University. 
On his return to Richmond Poe was employed for some time 
in the office of Mr. Allan. Here no doubt he was restive and 
unhappy, the breach between his guardian and himself having 
been farther widened; and after several weeks he determined to 
leave Richmond, and to go out into the world and shift for him- 
self. He left Richmond towards the end of March (1827),^ 
intending, so he later declared, to go abroad ; * but when we 
next hear of him, two months later, he is in Boston, where, on 
May 26, 1827, he enlisted in the army of the United States, 
adopting the name " Edgar A. Perry." ^ He was assigned to a 

1 Harrison, I, p. 345. Griswold's story (" Memoir," p. xxv) that he was 
expelled from the University is entirely without foundation. 

2 T. H. Ellis, the Richmond Standard, May 7, 1881. 

^ The date of his leaving may be conjecturally placed between March 20 
and March 25 ; see the letters of Edward Crump and John Allan pubhshed 
in the Seivanee Review, XX, pp. 209 f . 

* For several romantic stories as to Poe's movements at this time — for 
most of which he was himself responsible — see Harrison, I, p. 345; 
Ingram, pp. 53 f.; Woodberry, I, pp. 72 f. ; and Whitty, pp. xxix f. Accord- 
ing to one of these accounts, Poe went to Russia ; according to another 
he went to France, where he fought a duel, in which he was seriously 
wounded, and where he later wrote a novel dealing with his adventures ; 
according to a third account he went to some Mediterranean port, and 
thence into Africa ; and according to yet another account, his trip lasted 
only a few months but included a water trip to Norfolk and thence to an 
English seaport, followed by a trip to London in search of literary employ- 
ment, and thence to Paris on the same errand, then back to London, and 
thence to the coast and oversea to Boston. 

5 The fact of Poe's connection with the army was first fully established 
by Professor George E. Woodberry in an article, " Poe's Legendary Years," 
in the Ailaiitic Monthly, December, 1884 (LIV, pp. 814-S28). 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

company then stationed at Fort Independence. During the sum- 
mer he brought out, at Boston, his first volume of poems, Tamer- 
lane and Other Foems. On October 3 1 of the same year he was 
transferred with his company to Fort Moultrie, in the harbor 
of Charleston, South Carolina; and a year later he was trans- 
ferred to Fortress Monroe, Virginia. On January i, 1829, he 
was made sergeant-major. 

Poe's whereabouts presently became known to his foster-parents, 
and steps were taken, probably on the initiative of Mrs. Allan, to 
effect his release from the army and to procure for him a cadet- 
ship at West Point. Mrs. Allan died on February 28, 1829, but a 
discharge for the young sergeant-major was not forthcoming until 
April 1 5 ; and something less than a year later, through the activ- 
ities of Mr. Allan and certain influential friends of the family, 
Poe was formally appointed a cadet to West Point.^ During the 
year intervening between his leaving the army and his admis- 
sion to West Point, he made his home in Baltimore ; but he 
went on occasional visits to Richmond.^ In December, 1829, he 
published at Baltimore a second volume of poems. 

In July, 1830, Poe was enrolled at West Point. His record at 
the Academy was at first creditable, his standing at the end of 
the year being third in French and seventeenth in mathematics 
in a class of eighty-seven. Mr. Allan, however, had in October 
married a second time ; and Poe, becoming ^ finally convinced 
that he could no longer rely on him for substantial support, 
and believing, as he afterwards wrote, that " the army does not 

1 Mr. Allan's letter to the Secretary of War in support of his application 
for a cadetship (see Woodberry, I, pp. 52-53) serves as a cruel reminder of 
his want of sympathy and of consideration for his foster-child. 

2 From a letter written to John Neal on December 29, 1S29 (see Wood- 
berry, I, p. 369), we know that Poe was in Bahimore at that time, and the 
office books of Charles Ellis (Mr. Allan had withdrawn from the firm of 
Ellis & Allan in 1824) show that he was in Richmond on January 8, 1830, 
and again on January 28 (perhaps he had remained in Richmond during 
the interim), and still again on May 12, on which date John Allan is 
charged with a bill of $14.97 for blankets and handkerchiefs purchased 
by Poe. 



xviii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

suit a poor man,"/^ resolved, with the beginning of the new year 
or earlier, to leave the Academy. He is said to have asked per- 
mission of his foster-father to resign," but, this being refused, he 
deliberately set about getting himself dismissed. He neglected 
his studies, absented himself from roll calls, and otherwise set 
the authorities at defiance, with the result that he was court- 
martialed ; and on March 6, 1831, he was officially expelled from 
the Academy.^ 

Before leaving West Point, he made arrangements for the sale 
among his fellow-cadets of a third volume of his poems, dedicated 
to them. This volume was published at New York in the spring 
of 1S31. 

The next four years Poe spent mainl}- in Baltimore, though it 
is impossible to follow his career during this period with complete 
certainty. He was in Baltimore in May, 1831, shortly after his 
expulsion from West Point ; * during tlie first nine months of 
I S3 2, according to tlie testimony of one of his associates, Lambert 
A. Wilmer, he was living with his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, in Balti- 
more ; ^ and he was living in Baltimore in the summer and fall 
of 1S33 and in 1834, as is established by the letters and journals 
of John Pendleton Kennedy. At some time during these years 
he is said to have gone on a brief trip to Europe ; '^ he also 
figured in love-scrapes with a Miss Mary Devereaux'' and (in 

1 Harrison, I, p. 345. 

2 Didier, p. 44. 

8 Particulars as to the trial are given by Ingram, pp. 73-74. 

* See his letter to William Gwynn (Woodberry, I, p. 8S). 

^ See his " Recollections of Edgar A. Poe," BaItimo7-e Daily Commercial, 
May 23, iS66. That the period of Poe's earUer association with Wilmer in 
Baltimore was not 1S33 (as Professor Woodberry conjectures, I, p. 92), but 
1832, is established by contemporary references in the Baltimore news- 
papers to a suit between Wilmer and the proprietors of the Baltimore 
Saturday Morning nj/yt-r instituted in August, 1S32. 

6 See the reminiscences of F. W. Thomas (Whitty, p. xxxiv). 

" Cf. the article, " Poe's IMary," by Augustus van Cleef, in Harper's 
Monthly Magazine, March, 1SS9 (LXXVIII, pp. 634 f.); and see also the 
Dial iox Februaiy 17, IQ16. 



INTRODUCTION xix 

183 1 or perhaps earlier) with his cousin, Miss Elizabeth Herring.-^ 
His chief means of support were perhaps supplied him by 
Mr. Allan ^ and by Miss Valentine, sister of the first Mrs. Allan ; 
but Mr. Allan died in March, 1834, leaving him nothing. Poe is 
said to have visited Richmond in 1831 and again in 1834 shortly 
before Mr. Allan's death, but to have been refused an audience 
with his foster-father on both occasions.^ 

His main literary work during these years (1831-1834) must 
have been in the field of the short story, and he also labored on 
his play, Politian. In the Philadelphia Saturday Courier between 
January and December, 1832, he published five of his tales, 
having originally submitted them, it appears, in competition for 
a prize offered by that paper. In October, 1833, he was awarded 
a prize of a hundred dollars by a Baltimore paper, the Saturday 
Morning Visiter, for his story MS. Found in a Bottle. And in 
the following year one of his stories, The Visionary., was published 
in Godefs Ladfs Book. 

Through the influence of John Pendleton Kennedy, who had 
been one of the judges in the Baltimore Visiter's short-story 
contest, and who befriended the poet in many ways during his 
darker years in Baltimore, Poe was now brought to the attention 
of the proprietor of the Southern Literary Messenger, T. W. White, 
and in that magazine he at once began to find a market for his 
wares. He supplied the Messe?iger with numerous critical notices 
and tales, and also republished there the tales that had originally 
appeared in the Saturday Courier, the Visiter, and Godefs. In 
the summer of 1835 Mr. White invited Poe to come to Richmond 
to assist him in the editing of the magazine, and this offer he 
gladly accepted. 

Before going to Richmond Poe had fallen in love with his 
child-cousin, Virginia Clemm, and he determined to make her 
his wife, in spite of opposition on the part of some of her family. 

1 See the notes on Elizabeth. 

- Woodberry, I, p. 104 ; Mrs. Weiss, p. 62. 

3 Mrs. Weiss, pp. 57 f. ; Woodberry, I, pp. 95 f. 



XX THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Accordingly, he obtained on September 22, 1835, ^ license for 
marriage, and it has been held that a wedding actually took 
place at this time ; -^ the fact, however, that Poe and his cousin 
were publicly married in Richmond eight months later (May 16, 
1836) and the absence of any reference to an earlier marriage 
in his letters or other contemporary documents tend to discredit 
this view.^ 

Poe's active connection with the Messeiiger lasted from July, 
1835, until the end of January, 1837 ; and it seems that he was 
again connected with this magazine, in a minor capacity, in the fall 
of 1837.^ His position was at first merely that of assistant, but in 
December,- 1835, he was promoted to be editor-in-chief. Under his 
direction the Messenger became one of the leading magazines of 
the day, and its subscription list, if we may believe a statement of 
Poe's,^ grew from a few hundred to more than five thousand. 
But from the beginning there had been bickerings between 
Mr. White and his young editor, owing to the latter's indul- 
gence in drink, and it was probably on this account that the poet 
eventually gave up his place on the Messenger. 

From Richmond Poe went, in the late winter or spring of 1837, 
to New York City, where he hoped to find employment with the 
newly established New Yoi-k Review., edited by Francis Lister 
Hawks.^ In October, 1837, as already noted, he was again in 
Richmond. The first half of the year 1838 was spent in New 
York ; and there in July he published his Crusoe-like story. The 
Narrative of Atihur Gordon Pyjn, a part of which had appeared 



1 Didier, p. 58. 

2 Most of Poe's- biographers, it is proper to state, incline to accept the 
theory of an early marriage ; but the evidence in the case is far from 
conclusive. 

^ See a letter of his to Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale bearing the date of 
October 20, 1837 (the New York N'ation, July i, 1909). 

* Letters, pp. 177-178; Griswold, III, p. 26. 

5 Apparently he published in this magazine only one article, a lengthy 
review of Stephens's Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia, etc. (reprinted 
by Harrison, X, pp. 1-25). 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837. At some time in 
the summer of 1838 he moved to Philadelphia. 

Poe remained in Philadelphia six years (1838-18 44). He was 
engaged first as assistant editor of Burton'' s Gentleman's Magazme 
(July, 1839, to June, 1840), and later as editor of Graham's 
Magazine (April, 1841, to May, 1842); and he was also con- 
nected, more or less closely, in 1843, with a weekly, the Satur- 
day Museum. He wrote during these years the best of his 
stories (of which a two-volume collection was published at Phil- 
adelphia late in 1839) and some of the best of his poems and 
reviews.-^ He also spent some time in hack work, one product 
of which was a book on conchology, The Conchologist's First-Book 
(1839), a compilation which subjected him to a charge of plagia- 
rism — an accusation for which, unhappily, there appears to have 
been some basis in fact.^ During his residence in Philadelphia 
Poe also made several attempts, but without success, to start 
a magazine of his own; and in 1843 he endeavored, with like 
result, to obtain a government position. He also lectured — and 
in this he was more successful — -in Baltimore and Philadelphia. 
But it is plain that his income at this time was small despite the 
variety of shifts to which he resorted in an effort to make ends 
meet. Toward the close of his stay in Philadelphia, moreover, his 
wife's health began to fail. In 1841 she had broken a blood 
vessel in singing, consumption had set in, and she was to remain 

1 Among his critical papers are his notice of Hawthorne's Tzoice-Told 
Tales {Grakajn's Magazine, May, 1S42, reprinted by Harrison, XI, pp. 104 f.), 
in which occurs his famous statement concerning the significance of the 
short story ; and his well-known review of Longfellow's Ballads and Other 
Poetns (Graha?n's Magazine, March and April, 1842, reprinted by Harrison, 
XI, pp. 64 f.). 

2 Woodberry, I, pp. 194-197 ; Harrison, I, pp. 146-147 ; Letters, pp. 277- 
278. In Lowell's sketch of the poet (see Harrison, I, p. 382), Poe is also 
credited with " a digest and translation of Lemmonnier's A^aiural History," 
also published in Philadelphia in 1839. This was probably the volume 
entitled A Synopsis of Natural History, etc., said on its title-page to 
have been translated by Thomas Wyatt, which was reviewed in Burton^ s 

ifie in July, 1839 (V, p. 61). 



xxii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

an invalid until her death in 1847. To make matters worse, Poe 
had resumed some of his bad habits of former years, resorting 
now (it seems) to opium as well as to other stimulants ; ^ and by- 
reason of these and other irregularities he had lost many of his 
friends in Philadelphia. 

Accordingly, with a view to finding a more congenial environ- 
ment and also in the hope, doubtless, of finding relief for his wife, 
Poe moved again, in April, 1844, to New York. He secured a 
place, in the fall of 1844, as critic and subeditor of the New York 
Evenhig Mirror, Willis's paper; and the following February he 
resigned this position to become co-editor with C. F. Briggs of the 
Broadway Journal, a weekly that had been established at the begin- 
ning of the year. In October he became sole editor and proprietor 
of the Broad7vay ; but he had borrowed freely to this end, and 
was unable to take up his note when it fell due, with the result 
that the Broadway died with the first week of the new year.^ In 
June, 1845, he published a new volume of tales; and in October 
he brought out a new collection of his poems, The Raven and 
Other Poems. The publication of The Haven in, the preceding 
January had won for him widespread attention, in both England 
and America. 

1 Poe made no secret of his weakness for drink (see Letters, pp. 134 f., 
242, 287-288). This fault, however, has been much exaggerated. He was 
not an habitual drinker, but he drank at intervals — sometimes of several 
years — throughout his career. There is testimony from numerous sources 
that a small quantity of liquor was sufficient to intoxicate him. His spells 
of intoxication, during which he was largely irresponsible — a circumstance 
to which is to be traced much of the animosity towards him felt by some 
contemporaries — were usually followed by illness. See, on the general 
subject, Woodberry, I, pp. 257 f. andi passhn, Ingram, p. 422 dinA passim, 
Harrison, I, pp. 123-124, and for the latest discussion of the matter a 
paper by P. A. Bruce, the South Atlantic Quanerly, January, 191 2 (XI, 
pp. 3-21) ; see also an article by Appleton Morgan in Munsey^s Maga- 
zine, July, 1897 (XYII, pp. 522-530), and the treatise of £mile Lauvriere, 
Edgar Poe, sa vie et son wuvre, Paris, igo/i,, passitn. 

On Poe's indulgence in opium see Woodberry, II, pp. 428 f. 

2 See the account of Thomas Dunn English in the New York Independ- 
ent, October 15, 1896 (XLYIII, p. 1382). 



INTRODUCTION xxiii 

At some time in the spring or early summer of 1846, Poe 
moved with his family to Fordham, a village then several miles 
out of New York City, but now a part of the Bronx. For several 
w^eeks during the first half of this year he was very ill.^ During 
the summer and autumn he published in Godefs Ladfs Book a 
series of papers, entitled The Literati^ on the chief living writers 
of New York. Some of these were extremely caustic, and they 
stirred up for him a host of enemies. Among them was Thomas 
Dunn English, who in June published in the New York Telegraph 
a violent attack on him,^ which was copied in the New York Mirror. 
To this he replied in kind, and at the same time brought suit 
against the Mirror for libel. The suit was settled in Poe's favor 
the following February, damages of several hundred dollars being 
assessed against the Miri'or. Shortly after moving to Fordham, 
Poe figured in another unhappy episode. In March, 1845, he 
had met the poetess Mrs. Frances Sargent Osgood, and — 
with the approval, it appears, of his wife — had paid her many 
attentions during the following year, addressing to her complimen- 
tary verses and openly coquetting with her at social gatherings in 
New York City. In June, 1846, however, one of Mrs. Osgood's 

^ Poe makes mysterious references to an attack of insanity at this time 
{Letters, pp. 242, 2S7) ; and Mrs. Shew declared that "he had lesion of 
one side of the brain and . . . could not bear stimulants or tonics without 
producing insanity" (Ingram, p. 330). His friend, Dr. J. E. Snodgrass, 
in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter of April 18, 1846, makes mention of a 
rumor that he was laboring " under mental derangement " at that time and 
that it had been " determined to consign him to the Insane Retreat at 
Utica." This plan, however, — if, indeed, it was ever seriously considered, 
— was not carried into effect, though it should be added that there is no 
contemporary evidence as to his whereabouts during February and March, 
save a letter of Mrs. M. E. Hewitt's, of April 14, 1846, in which she states 
that he had been away from New York for some time and mentions a visit 
to Baltimore. A highly exaggerated discursus on Poe's alleged infirmity, 
by F. G. Fairfield, under the title "A Mad Man of Letters," appeared in 
Scribner's JMonthly in October, 1875 i^' PP- 690-699). See also Wilmer 
in the Baltimore Daily Commercial, May 23, 1866; Mrs. Weiss, p. 173; and 
Burr's article in the Nineteettth Cen*tiry., February, 1852. 

2 This paper, together with Poe's reply and English's rejoinder, is 
reproduced in the Letters, pp. 234 f. 



xxiv THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

acquaintances, Mrs. E. F. EUet, either through jealousy or 
because of honest misgivings as to the propriety of Poe's be- 
havior, set afloat certain scandalous rumors about the two, and, 
these reaching Mrs. Osgood, she commissioned two of her friends. 
Miss Margaret Fuller and Miss Anne Lynch, to interview the 
poet and request the return of the letters that she had written 
him. And with this their association came abruptly to an end. ^ 

On January 30, 1847, Mrs. Poe died. Following her death the 
poet was again extremely ill for several months. He was nursed 
back to health by Mrs. Shew, who had nursed Mrs. Poe in her 
last illness. 

During the year 1847 Poe spent some time on a critical treatise, 
variously referred to as "The American Parnassus," "A Critical 
History of American Literature," " Living Writers of America," 
and " The Authors of America in Prose and Verse," which was 
mentioned in a contemporary journal in March as in preparation 
for the. press,^ but was never published as such ; ^ and in this 
year and the first half of the next, he was also actively engaged 
on his so-called prose poem. Eureka, a metaphysical treatise 
on the universe, which was published in book form in the sum- 
mer of 1848. To this period belongs also his friendship for 
Mrs. Shew, with whom he had become infatuated after the death 
of his wife.* In July, 1848, Poe went to Richmond for a stay of 
several weeks, in an effort to procure funds for a magazine. The 
Stylus, which he hoped to establish, but there fell again into the 

1 See, for further particulars, Woodberry, II, pp. lySf., and the notes 
on the lines To F- . 

2 The Home Journal of March 20, 1847. This work is referred to in 
Hirst's sketch of Poe in the Saturday Museum, February 25, 1843 ! ^"^^ 
there was also -a notice of it in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier of 
July 25, 1846, in which it was stated that it was "to be issued in book 
form simultaneously [in America] and in England, — with autographs." 

° See the New York Nation, December 4, 1902 (LXXV, pp. 445-447). 
* The fullest account of his relations with Mrs. Shew is that given by 
Ingram, pp. 322 f.; see also the notes on the lines To M. L. S . 



INTRODUCTION xxv 

excesses that had characterized his final year in Philadelphia. It 
is plain that both his mental and his physical condition were now 
at a low ebb. 

The same year he met Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, the Rhode 
Island poetess, and after a brief period of ardent love-making was 
rewarded by a promise of marriage on the condition that he 
pledge himself to abstain thereafter from intoxicating liquors. 
On the second evening, however, before that set for the wedding, 
Mrs. Whitman was informed that Poe had already broken his 
pledge, and she accordingly pronounced their engagement at an 
end. The poet returned at once to New York, and the two did 
not meet again ; though Mrs. Whitman was the stanchest of 
Poe's defenders after his death.^ 

The opening months of 1849 appear to have brought improve- 
ment both in the health and in the spirits of the poet, and during 
the first half of the year he wrote several of the best of his 
poems, including Annabel Lee and For Afifiie, the latter inspired 
by his friendship for Mrs. Richmond, of Lowell, who, with 
Mrs. Lewis of Brooklyn, now furnished the womanly sympathy 
that his nature constantly demanded after his wife's death.^ On 
the last day of June he left New York for a trip to Richmond. 
The following week he spent in Philadelphia suffering from a 
serious illness, brought on by drink,'^ and he did not arrive at 
Richmond until about the middle of July. In Richmond he went 
again on a spree, which was followed, as in Philadelphia, by illness 
and delirium ; but on his recovery he signed a temperance pledge, 
and his habits are said to have been unexceptionable during the 

1 See, for further particulars as to Toe's relations with Mrs. Whitman, 
the notes on the second To Helen. The fullest treatment of the subject is 
that of Miss Caroline Ticknor in her volume, Poe's Helen, New York, 191 6. 

2 For further particulars as to his friendship with Mrs. Richmond and 
Mrs. Lewis, see the notes on For Annie and Enigma, respectively. 

3 See the accounts given by Sartain (T^e Remi7iiscences of a Veiy Old 
Mail, pp. 205 f.); and cf. Burr, the Alneteenth Century>, February, 1852 
(reproduced in part by Woodberry, II, pp. 311 f.). 



xxvi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

remainder of his stay in Virginia. He lectured in Richmond and 
in Norfolk during this visit, the returns from at least one of "his 
lectures being very gratifying to him ; and he also visited and 
became engaged, for a second time, to his early inamorata, Sarah 
Elmira Royster, now the widow Shelton and well-to-do. Plans 
were made for their wedding, and early on the morning of Sep- 
tember 27 he started for the North to attend to certain business 
matters and to bring Mrs. Clemm to Richmond preparatory to 
celebrating the marriage. 

He got only so far as Baltimore, however. At what time he 
reached Baltimore or what occurred after his arrival there, is not 
known. According to one story, which seems not unplausible, 
he met while waiting for his train for Philadelphia an old West 
Point friend, who induced him to take a glass of wine with him 
at an inn. According to another story, long current, he ultimately 
fell into the hands of some political gangsters, who drugged him 
and then used him as a " repeater " in an election being held in 
Baltimore on October 3. This much at least is clear: that he 
became intoxicated, and that he suffered, in consequence, an 
attack similar to the one that had well-nigh brought him to his 
death in Philadelphia in the preceding July.-^ On October 3 he 
was found unconscious in a saloon that had lately been used 
as a polling-place, and his friend Dr. J. E. Snodgrass being 

1 This has been denied by some ; see A Defense of Edgar Allan Poe, by 
John J. Moran, M. D., the physician who attended Poe at the time of his 
death, and the article of E. Spencer in the A'eio Yot-k Hej-ald of March 27, 
iSSi (quoted in part by Harrison, I, pp. 32S f.). But circumstantial evidence 
is entirely in favor of the contrary view. And there is also direct evidence 
in favor of the darker view; see, in particular, an earlier statement by 
Dr. Moran in a letter to Mrs. Clemm (Woodberr)% II, pp. 345 f.) ; an 
article by Dr. J. E. Snodgrass, " The Facts of Poe's Death and Burial," 
in Beadle's Mojitkly, March, 1867 (III, pp. 283 f.) ; and the statement of 
his lifelong friend, J. P. Kennedy, that he died "from the effects of a 
debauch" (Woodberrjs II, p. 349). A letter of his cousin, Neilson Poe, 
to Rufus W'. Griswold (published in part by Woodberry, II, p. 447) also 
tends to confirm this view. 



INTRODUCTION xxvii 

advised of his condition, he was removed to a local hospital. 
There, on Sunday, October 7, 1849, he died. He was buried on 
the following day in the churchyard of Westminster Presbyterian 
Church in Baltimore. 

II. THE CANON OF POE'S POEMS 

Poe's poems, as first collected in book form, appeared originally 
in five successive volumes, extending over a period of twenty-three 
years.^ The first of these volumes — Tamerlane and Other 
Poeins — was published at Boston in 1827; the second — Al 
Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems — at Baltimore in 1829; 
the third — entitled simply Toe?ns — at New York in 1831 ; the 
fourth — The Raven and Other Foetns — at New York in 1845 ; 
and the fifth — a collective edition- — at New York in 1850 a few 
months after the poet's death. The first four volumes were pub- 
lished under Poe's immediate oversight ; the fifth is the edition 
of Rufus W. Griswold, Poe's literary executor.^ 

There appeared in these five volumes (hereafter referred to as 
1827, 1829, 1831, 1845, and 1850, respectively) a total of forty- 
eight poems. Ten of these — the first ten in the present edition — 
made their initial appearance in 1827 ; seven were first collected in 
1829; six in 1831; fourteen in 1845; and eleven in 1850. Of the 
eleven poems first brought together by Griswold (1850), nine had 
previously been published by Poe's authorization and with his 
name, while the remaining two — The Bells and Amiabel Lee — are 

^ Most of the poems were first published in magazines and newspapers 
before being collected in book form ; see the bibliographical list prefixed 
to each of the poems in the Notes. For a bibliography of the poems, 
giving only the place of first publication (together with a similar bibliog- 
raphy of the tales and of the most important essays, with a partial list of the 
books and articles about Poe), the reader is referred to the forthcoming 
Cambridge History of American Literature. 

2 Published, together with certain essays and tales, in the second volume 
of Griswold's edition of Poe's works. Further particulars as to these several 
editions are given in the Appendix. 



xxviii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

preserv'ed in manuscript copies in the poet's handwriting and are 
further authenticated by references to them in his letters. 

In addition to these forty-eight poems, there are four others 
— each of them brief and of little value — that are definitely 
known to be the work of Poe's hand. These are : Lati?i Hymn 
(a translation) and So7ig of Triu?jiph, both embodied in the tale 
Four Beasts in One\ and two juvenile skits, Elizabeth and An 
Acrostic, written by the poet in the alburn of his cousin, Elizabeth 
Herring. There are also several scraps of verse scattered among 
Poe's critical essays ; ^ and fragments of a poem entitled The 
Beautiful Physician have survived.^ Much of Poe's abortive 
drama FoHtian, it should be added, still remains in manuscript. 

Besides these fully authenticated items — fifty-two in all — 
there are fourteen other poems that have been ascribed to Poe 
on grounds that are more or less plausible, though none of them 
have as yet been completely authenticated as his. These are : 
(i) Oh Temporal Oh Mores! some very commonplace verses, 
said to have been composed by Poe while a young man in Rich- 
mond ; ^ (2) AIo?ie, a. fragment found in an autograph album in 
Baltimore and strongly resembling Poe's early style; (3) A West 

^ These include a free paraphrase of a passage from Drake's Culprit 
Fay (Harrison, VIII, p. 294) ; a translation of two lines from Corneille 
{ibid., XIV, p. 44) ; and three lines by way of burlesquing the meter of 
Evangeline {ibid., XIV, p. 264). Here also may be mentioned some 
scattering lines composed by Poe in connection with the criticism and 
revision of Mrs. S. A. Lewis's poems (cf. an article by J. H. Ingram, in the 
Albany Revie^v, July, 1907), and certain improvements suggested by him 
in one of Mrs. Browning's poems (Harrison, XIII, p. 201). 

- See the article contributed to the New York Bookman for January 
1909 (XXVIII, pp. 453 f.), by J. H. Ingram. 

^ First published in the N'o A'ame Magazine of October, 1S89 (I, p. i), 
by E. L. Didier, who later claimed (see Whitty, p. 165) that the manuscript 
of the poem had been given to him by John R. Thompson. The prefatory- 
statement accompanying the poem as first printed by Didier is untrust- 
worthy as to dates : the assertion is there made that the lines were writ- 
ten by Poe "at the age of seventeen" — then, in 1S26 — and that they 
had been in the hands of John W. MacKenzie of Richmond " for more 
than half a century" before coming into the hands of Thompson — but 
Thompson died in 1S73. 



INTRODUCTION xxix 

Point Lampoo?}, directed against one of the minor officers at the 
United States Military Academy who had aroused the poet's dis- 
pleasure ; (4) Lines to Louisa, some crude verses perhaps inspired 
by the poet's scorn of the second Mrs. Allan ; (5) Spiritual Song, 
a skit of three lines discovered in manuscript in the desk used by 
Poe while editing the Southern IJterary Messefiger ; ^ (6) The Great 
Mail, likewise found in Poe's desk in a manuscript believed to be 
in his handwriting, but extremely crude and halting ; ^ (7) To 
Sarah, a poem which appeared in the Southern Literary Messenger 
in August, 1835, above the pseudonym '' Sylvio " ; (8) Ballad, 
published anonymously in the Southern Literary Messenger for the 
same month; (9) a fragment of a campaign song said to have 
been written by Poe during a visit to New York in 1843 <^'' 1844 ; 
(10) Lmpromptu: To ICate Carol, four lines printed in the Broadway 
Journal in March, 1845, ^^'i inspired by Mrs. Osgood; (11) The 
Departed, printed in the Broadway Journal for July 12, 1845;^ 
(12) The Diviiie Right oj Kings, printed in Graham^ s Magazine for 
October, 1845 ; (13) Stanzas, published in Grahaiii's Magazine for 
December, 1845 ; and (14) a poem subscribed with Poe's initials 
and published in an obscure periodical, The Symposia, at Provi- 
dence, in 1848.* 

Three other poems that have been attributed to Poe, but on evi- 
dence that is extremely slender, are: (i) Enigma, first published 
in the Philadelphia Casket in May, 1827, and later copied, with 
minor changes, in Buiion's Gentleman^ s Magazine in May, 1840 ; 
(2) The Skeleton LLand, published in the Yankee and Boston Liter- 
ary Gazette in August, 1829 ; and (3) The ALagician, published 
in the same magazine in December, 1829.^ 

1 vSee Whitty, pp. 13S, 283 f. 2 ji,ij_^ ^^ j^^^ 28^ f_ 

8 Attributed to Poe by Thomas Ilolley Chivers (see the Wavcrley Maga- 
zine, July 30, 1853). 

* For further particulars as to these items see the Notes. 

^ See, for a statement of the grounds for doubting the genuineness of 
these items, an article by the present editor, entitled " The Poe Canon," 
in Pithllcatioiis of the Afode?-n Laiigtiage Association of America, September, 

1912 (XXVII, pp. 325-353)- 



XXX THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

The list of poems given to Poe in error include the following : 
(i) several short pieces signed "Edgar" contained in a volume 
of miscellaneous articles in prose and verse edited by Elizabeth 
Chase and published at Baltimore in 182 1 ; (2) Hymn in Honor 
of Harmodius and Aristogiton, a translation published in the 
Southern Literary Messenger for December, 1835 (II> P- 3^)) ^^^ 
attributed to Poe by several of his editors, but claimed by Lucian 
Minor in the Messenger iox March, 1848 (XIV, p. 185); (3) Hood's 
sonnet, Silence, published by Poe in Burton^ s Magazine (V, p. 144) 
above his own initial ; ^ (4) four short poems by A. M. Ide ten- 
tatively attributed to Poe on the theory that " Ide" was perhaps a 
pseudonym vised by Poe ; (5) The Manmioth Squash, a hoax at 
Poe's expense, published in the Philadelphia Aristidean for Octo- 
ber, 1845 ; C*^) Lai'ante, a satire in verse, attributed to Poe in the 
belief that it was the critical treatise on American writers on which 
Poe was at work in the forties, but which was never published as 
such ; "^ (7) a parody of The Raven by Harriet Winslow ; (8) a 
fragment of Mrs. Lewis's poem, The Forsaken ; (9) Lilitha, in imi- 
tation of Ulalume, written by F. G. Fairfield ; ( i o) The Fire-Fiend, 
an imitation at once of The Bells and of The Raven, composed 
by C. D. Gardette ; (11) Leonainie, an early poem of James 
Whitcomb Riley's; and (12) Rupert and Madelon, 2l fragment 
of Mrs. Osgood's Wotnan's Trust, a Dramatic Sketch? 

It is possible that other poems besides those now ascribed to 
Poe will ultimately be brought to light, but it is not likely that 

1 See the New York Nation for December 30, 1909, and January 20, 
1910. 

- See p. xxiv, above. 

3 See the Publications of the Modern Lanpiage Association of America, 
XXVII, pp. 329 f.. for further particulars as to most of these items. The 
fragment from Mrs. Osgood was included by J. P. Kennedy in Auiog^-af/i 
Leaves of our Cojintry^s Aiittiors, Baltimore, 1S64. Among other items that 
have been ascribed to Poe are two pieces of doggerel, Kelah and The Mn?- 
derer, variously attributed to Poe in American periodical publications about 
1890, and a not unclever hoax, My Soul, composed by a student of the 
University of Virginia (see the Richmond Times-Dispatch for January 17, 
1909). 



INTRODUCTION xxxi 

they will include anything of importance. There is a tradition 
that Poe exhibited to a Richmond schoolmaster, in 1823, a manu- 
script volume of verses,^ which he wished Mr. Allan to have pub- 
lished ; but these — granting the tradition to be true — were 
probably either worked over for the volume of 1827 or dis- 
carded. He is said to have delivered an ode of his own com- 
position on the retirement of Master Clarke as principal of his 
school in Richmond in 1823 ;^ and there is mention of a youthful 
satire on the members of a debating society in Richmond with 
which he was connected,'^ and of some lines To Mary, published 
in a Baltimore newspaper early in the thirties.* 

III. THE TEXT OF POE'S POEMS 

The problem of text is one of the most perplexing with which 
the editor of Poe is confronted. The poet was constantly repub- 
lishing his verses, and as constantly revising and altering them.'^ 
In some instances it is difficult to determine which of two texts 
' is the later one ; and even where this is not the case, we cannot 
always be sure which of two texts Poe would ultimately have 
preferred. The problem is further complicated by numerous 
typographical errors — or apparent typographical errors — and 
by something of editorial carelessness on the part of Griswold, 
and by uncertainty as to the date of the manuscript correction? 
made in the so-called Lorimer Graham copy of 1845.^ It would 

1 Didier, p. 31 ; Mrs. Weiss, pp. 45 f. 

- Didier, p. 33. 3 Ingram, p. 24. 

* Harper's Monthly Magazine, March, 1889 (LXXVIII, pp. 634 f.). See 
also Woodberry, II, p. 414, and Piihlicatio>ts of the Modern Language 
Association, XXVII, pp. 349 f. 

^ See, for particulars, the next section of this Introduction, on Poe's 
Passion for Revising his Text. 

® This important volume was among the materials to which Griswold 
had access as literary executor of Poe (Woodberry, II, p. 451); it subse- 
quently passed into the hands of J. Lorimer Graham, a gentleman of New 
York ; and it is now the property of the Century Club of New York City. 
It contains penciled corrections in Poe's handwriting of ten of the poems, 



xxxii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE • 

seem reasonable, however, to follow the text exhibiting the poet's 
latest revisal ; and this policy has, accordingly, been adhered to, so 
far as possible, in the present edition. Wherever any departure has 
been made from this policy — as happens in the case of three 
poems of which the latest texts are covered by copyright,-^ and in 
the case of two poems of which the final text is obviously corrupt ^ 
— this fact has been pointed out in the Notes. Where there is 
room for doubt as to which of two texts is the final one, this fact 
also has been noted. 

The main source of the text is the edition of 1845, in which Poe 
brought together, four years before his death, thirty of his poems. .. 
This, supplemented by the Lorimer Graham copy of the same edi- 
tion and the text of Griswold (1850), furnishes the ultimate text of 
more than half of the poems. Other important sources are the 
edition of 1827, in which appeared four poems that were never 
republished by the poet ; the Broadway Journal, in which he 
published in 1845 twenty -four of his poems; the Flag of Our 
Union, in which he published in the last year of his life five 
poems ; and the Richmond Examiner, in which were published 
what are apparently the latest texts of The Raven and Dream- 
Land, and in which he had arranged to publish several other poems, 
the proofs for which have been preserved.^ 

The chief textual imperfections appear in the volume of 1827. 
Here, besides numerous errors in punctuation, there are sun- 
dry verbal omissions and substitutions and a score or more of 

made presumably with a view to adoption in a new edition. These correc- 
tions were apparently noted down in 1849 (^i"- Whitty has adduced evi- 
dence tending to show that the revisions made in Leiiore came after April, 
1S49 {Poems, p. 214)); most of them probably belong to the summer of 
1849, ^^<^ it is at least conceivable that some of them were made in the 
autumn of 1849 shortly before Poe left Richmond on his fateful journey 
to Baltimore. 

1 The Haunted Palace, The Bells, and For Annie. Happily the verbal 
variations between the copyrighted text and the next latest revision affect 
but a single word in the case of each of these. 

2 See the notes on A Dream zvithm a Dream and Dream-Land. 
^ See Whitty, pp. viii f. 



INTRODUCTION xxxiii 

misprints, — one of them, in Dreams, line i6, quite robbing the 
context of its meaning. There are also a number of misprints in 
1829, though mainly in the notes, and a few, likewise, in 1831. The 
text of 1845 is comparatively free from error. But Griswold's text 
is marred by several apparently unauthorized omissions of minor 
importance and by a number of typographical errors, among the 
latter the unfortunate readings " kinsman " for " kinsmen " in 
Annabel Lee, line 17, and "mortals" for "mortal" in The Raveti, 
line 26. And some of the newspaper texts, as the Flag text of 
For Amiie and the Providence Journal text of Ulalume, are rad- 
ically faulty in this respect, the poet having had no opportunity, 
doubtless, to consult a proof. 

Errors in punctuation, which abound in 1827, are also fairly 
numerous in some of the later texts. Poe is traditionally supposed 
to have been extremely careful about his pointing ; but in reality, 
though he had certain mannerisms (as the use, in his early years, 
of the dash as a point of all work,^ and, in later years, of the comma 
for rhetorical emphasis ^), he was both inconsistent and at times ex- 
ceedingly reckless with his pointing. To be convinced of this, one 
has only to compare the various texts of The Raven, or to place 
side by side the texts of The Haunted Palace as printed in the 1845 
edition of the Tales and in the volume of poems published in the 
same year (1845).'' In the present edition obvious errors in punctu- 
ation have been corrected. The punctuation has also been changed 
where it was plainly at variance with universally accepted usage at 
the present time or, in particular, where it obscured the poet's mean- 
ing. The spelling, too, has been corrected and normalized ; and an 
attempt has been made to give consistency to the capitalization.* 

1 See the note on Tamerlane, 1. 2. 

2 Cf. The Haunted Palace, 1. 41, and For Annie, II. 14, 86, 90. 
8 Other evidence in plenty is adduced in the Notes. 

* But in the footnote variants the pointing, spelHng, and capitaHzation 
of the original texts have been retained. This results in some exceed- 
ingly slipshod pointing and sundry grotesque spellings ; but it has the 
advantage of making graphic some of the eccentricities of the poet (or of 
his printers) in these matters. 



xxxiv THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

In the arrangement of his poems, Poe observed no fixed order. 
In 1827 he placed the longest poem (Tamerlane) at the beginning 
of the volume ; and he adopted the same policy in 1829, giving 
the initial place in that volume to Al Aaraaf. But in 1831 the long 
poems are thrown to the end of the volume. In 1845 The Raven 
is given first place, and is followed by some poems of the earlier, 
and some of the middle, period, — arranged, however, in no easily 
discoverable sequence, — while eleven of the earlier pieces are 
printed in a separate section at the end under the caption " Poems 
Written in Youth." Griswold, in his edition, also assigns first place 
to The Raven, but the rest of the poems he arranges arbitrarily 
and seemingly without any system. In the present edition an 
attempt has been made to follow the chronological order.-"^ This 
arrangement has the obvious advantage of indicating, in a meas- 
ure, the development of the poet's art and the change that he 
underwent in his attitude to the world about him ; though it has 
the obvious disadvantage of bringing to the fore the poet's feebler 
work. That the correct chronology has not been hit upon in some 
instances may be taken for granted. It is not unlikely, for example, 
that Spirits of the Dead was written before Tamerlane, and that 
Romance was written before Al Aaraaf \ in the case of the earlier 
poems it is impossible to settle such questions absolutely, and 
the order adopted by Poe in the first publication of these poems 
has accordingly been adhered to. The relative chronology of the 
later poems, on the other hand, — especially of those belonging 
to the decade ending with 1845, — may be determined in most 
instances without much difficulty.^ After each of the poems (save 
the uncollected and doubtful items) the date of first publication 
has been given. 

1 Except that the poems not collected by Poe or by his literary executor 
have been placed by themselves at the end of the text. 

- The chronology of the poems belonging to Poe's final year has been 
much clarified by the discovery a few years ago of a file of the Flag of Our 
Union (see the New York Nation for December 31, 1909). Before this 
discovery, Eldorado had usually been assumed to be Poe's last poem. 



INTRODUCTION xxxv 

The variant readings, which constitute in the case, of some of 
the poems a body of text as large as the poems themselves and 
which are plainly of much importance in the study of Poe, have 
been given in this edition in footnotes.-^ In the case of six of the 
poems, which underwent very radical revision, one or more of the 
earlier texts have been reproduced in the footnotes in their entirety. 
All variants — • that is, all readings that do not appear in the final 
text — are set in italics (unless the original reading was in italics, in 
which case a heavy-faced type has been used). The nature and the 
rationale of the textual changes are discussed in the next section. 

IV. POE'S PASSION FOR REVISING HIS TEXT 

Nothing was more characteristic of Poe than his fondness 
for revising his verses. " No poet," says Stoddard, " who wrote 
so little ever re-wrote that little so often, and so successfully."^ 
And Professor Woodberry declares : ^ " There is no such exam- 
ple in literature of poetic elaboration as is contained in the suc- 
cessive issues of [Poe's] poems." Certainly no other American 
poet ever recast his work so freely or republished it so often 
after once it had found its way into print. Not even Wordsworth, 
for whom Dowden has claimed the distinction of furnishing the 
most instructive example among English poets of the value of 
revision, has supplied us with a more formidable array of rejected 
readings.* 

Of the forty-eight poems collected by Poe or by his literary 
executor, no fewer than forty-two were republished or were 

1 As a rule, only the variants for the printed versions have been given ; 
but for a number of the poems, especially those revised in the Lorimer 
Graham copy of 1845, the poet's autographic revisions have also been taken 
account of. 

2 The Works of Edgar Allaii Poe, I, p. viii. 

^ II, p. 411 ; see also Stedman and Woodberry, The Works of Edgar 
Allan Poe, X, p. v. 

* See Dowden's edition of Wordsworth's Poems, Athenaeum Press Serieg 
(Boston, 189S), p.lxxxv. 



xxxvi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

authorized to be republished at least once ; and of these all but 
one {So/iuef — To Zante) were subjected to some sort of verbal re- 
vision upon republication. Six of the poems appeared in two dif- 
ferent forms, thirteen in three different forms, nine in four different 
forms, eleven in five different forms, one (Lenore) in eight differ- 
ent forms, and one (The Raven) in fifteen different forms. Three 
of the six poems that were published only once, survive in 
manuscript versions that differ in some respect from the pub- 
lished versions. Twenty of the poems underwent a change of 
title, and five changed title twice. 

Among the earlier poems one {A Dream zcnt/iin a Dreani) 
emerged from its several reca stings an entirely different poem, 
no single line, no part of a line, of the original being retained in 
the final draft. 

Some of the poems were much enlarged on republication ; and 
others were as radically condensed. The Bells as first offered for 
publication was a poem of only i8 lines. In its final form it 
numbered 113 lines. Tamerlane was published originally in 406 
lines, was condensed in 1829 to 243 lines, enlarged in 1831 to 268 
lines, and finally reduced in 1845 fo 243 lines. Roma?ice, which in 
1829 numbered 21 lines, was expanded in 1831 to 66 lines, and in 
1845 was condensed again to 21 lines. Fairy-Land had a similar 
history, appearing first (1829) in 46 lines, then (1831) in 64 lines, 

and later (1845) in the original 46 lines. The lines To ("I 

heed not that my earthly lot ") were first printed in five stanzas 
totaling 20 lines, but were reduced in 1845 to 8 lines.^ 

Striking also are sundry changes in stanza-form and in length 
of line. A conspicuous example is furnished by Le?iore, which was 
first printed in a simple ballad stanza (a quatrain made up of 
tetrameter and trimeter), later in an ode-like stanza of uneven 
line-length and running to thirteen or more lines, and later still in 
a long-line stanza approximating that of The Raven. Both The 
Raven and Lenore were also published (with Poe's approval) in a 

1 Condensation was more frequently resorted to than amplification, 
though in the text of 1831 ampUfication was the rule. 



INTRODUCTION xxxvii 

short-line stanza in which each of the longer lines was broken in 
two at the caesura. An evening of stanza length occurs in Israfel 
and The City in the Sea. Two early poems, Spirits of the Dead 
and TJie Lake: To , originally printed without stanza divi- 
sion, were broken up into stanzas in the edition of 1829, while 

Fairy-Land and To (''' I heed not," etc.), originally divided 

into stanzas, were printed in 1845 without stanza division. 

And there are a multitude of changes in sequence. These 
affect, as a rule, only a single line or a single word ; but in some 

instances — as in The Sleeper^ Lefiore, To F- , and For Annie 

— passages of a half-dozen lines or more are interchanged or 
are transferred from one part of the poem to another. In two 
instances entire poems were inserted in a larger poem,^ and in 
other instances passages appearing in one poem are repeated 
in a later poem.^ 

But the most frequent and, in the sum-total, naturally, the 
most important revisions are those made in the phrasing. These 
range all the way from a mere change of tense or of number to 
the substitution of an entirely new line. How multifarious such 
changes are becomes apparent on reference to the footnotes. 
They are less numerous with the later poems — with The Raven, 
for instance, there are verbal changes in only 2 1 out of a total of 
1 08 lines — but with some of the earlier poems, quite as much of 
the text is canceled as is allowed to stand.^ 

The grounds for making these changes are in most cases fairly 
evident. The rigorous pruning to which some of the earlier poems 
were ultimately subjected was dictated, obviously, by the desire 
to curtail, so far as practicable, the element of the personal. This 
will explain the omission in 1845 of the opening and closing lines 
(1-6, 27-40) of A Dream zvithin a Dream as printed in 1829; 

^ Both A Dream 7i<ithin a Dream and The Lake: To formed a part 

of Tame7-lane in 1831. Several of the poems were incorporated at some 
time in one or another of the tales. 

2 See the notes on Al Aaraaf, Part I, 1. 77, and Fairy-Land, 11. 1-4. 

8 See, for instance, The Sleeper, and the opening section of Al Aaraaf. 



xxxviii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

and it will also explain the omission of the cancelled passages 
(11. 11-34, 46-66) of the 1831 version of Romance, and much of 
the condensation made in the latter texts of A Dream, The Sleeper, 
and Tamerlane. The omission of sundry other passages, — as of 
the fantastic lines in the original text of Fairy-Land beginning : 

Sit down beside me, Isabel, 
Here, dearest, where the moonbeam fell, 
and ending : 

And this ray is di fairy ray — 

Did you not say so, Isabel ? 

How fantastically it fell 

With a spiral twist and a swell, 

And over the wet grass rippled away 

With a tinkling like a bell ; 

and of the closing lines of The Valley of Unrest (as pubUshed in 
the American Rei'ieiv in 1845) : 

They wave ; they weep : and the tears as they well 
From the depths of each pallid lily bell. 
Give a trickle and a tinkle and a knell, — 

is probably traceable to their extravagance of mood and of 
stvde. And the cancellation of the strangely melodramatic lines 
introducing the second stanza of the 1843 version of Lenore: 

Yon heir whose cheeks of pallid hue 

With tears are streaming wet, 
Sees only, through 
Their crocodile dew, 

A vacant coronet, — 

is doubtless to be explained on similar grounds. 

Other passages were suppressed, apparently, in the interest of 
a greater straightforwardness of the thought (as with the re- 
jected stanzas of Bridal Ballad and the lines originally repeated 
in Bream-Land) ; or because they injured the wholeness of 
impression, the " totality of effect " (as with the discarded stanza 
of Hymn) ; or because they involved an anticlimactic conclusion 



INTRODUCTION xxxix 

(as with the final stanza of To One in Paradise and the rejected 
couplet at the end of The City in the Sea). Most of the pruning 
made in Tamerlatie was dictated evidently by a desire to relieve 
that poem of something of its prolixity. One interesting omission 
— that of the tenth stanza of Ulalutne — is said to have been 
made at the suggestion of another.^ 

The extensive amplification seen in the final draft of The Bells 
was prompted by a desire to give volume and meaning to a poem 
which in its first crude state was singularly feeble and bald.^ The 
changes in stanza-form and line-length appear to be traceable, 
mainly, either to some whim of the poet or to a desire to gain 
more of symmetry or to adjust more effectively the form to 
mood and idea. Most of the changes in order came about either 
in consequence of other changes or in an effort to find a smoother 
rhythm or a better sequence of ideas. 

The manifold changes in phrasing were dictated by a variety 
of considerations. A good many came in response to an effort 
to find a more picturesque wording ; as in the substitution of 
" startled " for " wondering " in line 6i of The Raven ; of '' quiver- 
ing " for '' dying " in line 34 of The Conqueror Worm ; of " surf- 
tormented " for " weather-beaten " in line 13 of ^ Dream within 
a' D7'eam ; of " ivy-clad arcades " for " perishing (or " tottering ") 
arcades" in line 26 of The Coliseum; of "grains of the golden 
sand" for "some particles of sand" in line 15 of ^ Dream 
within a Dream ; of " yawn level with " for " are on a level 
with" in line 31 of The City i?i the Sea; and of "open fanes 

i.But the stanza was later readopted ; see the notes on Ulalumc. 

2 A noteworthy example of enlargement on a small scale which begets 
a like result — larger volume and fuller meaning — is seen in the expan- 
sion of the fifth line in Israfel, according to the text of 1831, 

And the giddy stars are mute, 

into the three lines that we now have : 

And the giddy stars (so legends tell), 
Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell 
Of his voice, all mute. 



xl THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

and gaping graves "' for " open temples — open graves " in line 30 
of the same poem. Other changes in diction were made in an 
effort to find a fresher and more comely phrasing; as in the 
substitution of " sought " for " tried " in line 9 of The Raven ; 
"resemble nothing" for "are — not like anything" in line 8 of The 
City in the Sea ; of " void " for " vacuum " in line 47 of the same 
poem ; of " eternal " for " Italian " in the last line of To One in 
Paradise — " By what eternal streams " ; and " yon brilliant window- 
niche" for "that little window-niche" in line 1 1 of the earlier verses 
To Helen. And still others were made for the sake of the finer 
consonance, the gain in harmony and rhythm, that they secure. 
A good example is furnished by the famous lines from the early 
verses To Helen — as perfect as any that Poe wrote : 
To the glory that was Greece 
And the grandeur that was Rome, — 

which read quite tamely in the text of 1831 : 
To the beauty of fair Greece 
And the grandeur of old Rome ; 

V 

another, by the change in line 25 of Jsrafel from the reading, 
Where Love is a grown god, 
Where Love 's a grown-up God ; 

and another in the transformation of the unusually halting line 
(37), in the same poem, 

Thy grief — if any — they love, 
to the perfectly modulated 

Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love.^ 

1 A gain in rhythm also results from a number of the changes made in 
Tamerlane and other poems in the volume of 1S27. Poe allowed, however, 
some extremely lame and unsatisfactor)- lines to remain in certain of his 
later poems, — as the forty-first line of Ulalume, 

She revels in a region of sighs, 
and — worst of all — the closing line of the blank-verse poem To Helen : 

Venuses, unextinguished by the sun ! 



INTRODUCTION xli 

Other changes were made in order to avoid a harsh succession 
of sibilants ; as in the third line of Israfel, 

None sing so wildly well, 

which first read, 

None sing so wild — so well ; 

and in the opening line of The Lake: To , which originally 

read, , .... 

In youth s spring it was my lot, 

but was changed in 1845 to read, 

In spring of youth it was my lot. 

The change in the thirty-ninth line of The Raven from " not an 
instant stopped or stayed he," to " not a minute stopped or 
stayed he," is probably to be explained in the same way. And 
still other changes were made in an effort to secure greater sim- 
plicity and inevitableness ; as in the substitution of " radiant " for 
" snow-white " in line 4 of The Haimted Palace, 
Radiant palace — reared its head ; 

or of " living human " for the grandiloquent " sublunary " in 
line 51 of The Raven, 

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being ; 

or of the line, „ . ... . ,. .-. ^ 

Far down within the dim West, 

in The City in the Sea (1. 3) for the vague and perfunctory 
Far off in a region unblest. 

In a few instances it would seem that Poe gave up an acceptable 
reading for an inferior one. This happens, obviously, with his 
substitution of the colorless phrase " by the side of the sea " for 
the finely resonant ending " by the sounding sea " in the last line 
of Atinabel Lee, 

In her tomb by the sounding sea. , 



xlii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

It happens, likewise, in the change of '' the " to " thy " in the 
opening line of the Examiner text of A Dream ivithin a Dream, 

Take this kiss upon thy brow, 

which begets a clash in concord with the line immediately following, 

And, in parting from you now ; 

it happens, also, in the change in the fourth line of the same 

poem from 

You are not wrong, who deem 

to the less natural 

You are not wrong to deem ; 

and it happens manifestly in the exasperating change of title from 
A Dream tmthi?i a Dream to the meaningless To . Some- 
thing is lost, also, it would seem, in the substitution of " dews " 
for " tears " in line 12 of the Examiner text of Dream-Dand and 
of "01 it is" for "'Tis — oh, 'tis" in line 42 of the same poem. 
Other changes that appear to involve a loss are the substitution 
of " minute " for " instant " in line 39 of The Raven, 

Not the least obeisance made he ; not a minute stopped or stayed he ; 

the transposition of the words " all " and " that " in the opening 
line of To One in Paradise, 

Thou wast that all to me, love ; 

and the alteration of the perfectly natural reading in the sixth 
line of To One in Paradise, 

And the flowers — they all were mine, 

to the more direct but less forceful 

And all the flowers were mine. 



INTRODUCTION xliii 

Nor is anything gained by the alteration of the first two lines of 
the final stanza of Lenore according to the Lorimer Graham text : 
Avaunt ! — avaunt ! from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven — 
From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven — 

to 

Avaunt ! — avaunt ! to friends from fiends the indignant ghost is riven — 

From Hell unto a high estate within the utmost Heaven, — 

the collocation " to friends from fiends " being palpably forced. Most 
readers will feel, too, that the radical compression made in some 
of the earlier poems — notably in Romance — was scarcely justified. 
The poet, had he lived longer, would doubtless have canceled 
some of these less satisfactory readings. It is interesting to observe 
that in a number of instances he did return to an earlier reading. 
This happened, as already noted, in the case of the tenth stanza 
of Ulalume, which formed a part of the poem in its first two ver- 
sions, was omitted in the text published in the Providence Journal 
(at the request, so it is said, of Mrs. Whitman), and was readopted 
in the closing months of the poet's life. In Fairy-La?id, lines 29-46 
of the 1829 version were dropped in 1831, but were readmitted 
into the poem in 1845. Similarly, the second half of the lines To 

F s S. O d, though discarded in the Broadway Journal 

text, were readopted in the collective edition of 1845. The read- 
ing " owing to that lyre " in Israjel (1. 19) gave way in the text of 
Graham's Magazine (1841) to the less satisfactory reading "due 
unto that lyre," to be superseded in all later versions by the original 
reading. In the twenty-second line of Lenore, the reading " moan 
and groan," substituted in the Whig text for " grief and groan," in- 
volved a return to the reading of the Broadway Jotirnal. And the 
transposition, noted above, of " all that " in the opening line of To 
One in Paradise involves a return to a reading adopted fifteen 
years before in Godefs Lady's Book. But such changes are com- 
paratively few. It is clear that the poet grew steadily in his grasp 
on his art, and that, as time passed, he came to attach more and 
more importance to artistic finish and perfection. 



xliv THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

V. POE'S INDEBTEDNESS TO OTHER POETS 

For the materials out of which he composed his verses, Poe 
naturally drew mainly on his own experience and observation. In 
the work of no other American poet, save possibly Whitman, is 
the element of autobiography so large. The bulk of his earlier 
verses are reflections — though veiled, as a rule — of the griefs 
and ambitions and disappointments of his youth. And a good 
proportion of his later verses are either addressed to friends or 
relatives, or have in some way to do with them.^ Still others — as 
Isra/d 2ind the Sonnet — To Science and Al Aaraqf and Ro7fiance — 
embody his views as to the poet's aim and province ; and Eldorado 
reflects, in a measure, his general attitude to life. 

But his muse drew sustenance also from books. His earlier 
verses are largely imitations — some of them palpable and slavish 
imitations — of one or another of the English Romantic poets. 
And, like certain of his masters, as Milton and Byron, he displayed 
throughout his career an extraordinary facility at copying and 
assimilating what struck his fancy in the work of others. It was 
to Byron that he owed most, — his debts to him being, in some 
instances, very obvious, and in a few instances, it would seem, of 
questionable propriety. He owed much also to Milton and to 
Moore, especially in his earlier poems ; and he was influenced both 
in his youth and in later years by Coleridge. There were obliga- 
tions, too, to Shelley, and Keats, and Mrs. Browning, and to a 
number of others. 

To Byron he was indebted, first of all, for the model of his 
Tamerlane — which he found in Manfred and The Giaour. He 
evidently owed to Byron also the suggestion of his Coliseum, and 
probably also the suggestion of the lines To Romance and To the 

River . It was from Byron, confessedly, that he took the idea 

underlying the poem now entitled Stanzas ; and he found in 
Byron's Darhiess the main details used in The City in the Sea. In 

1 See further on this point the comments of Professor C. W. Kent, 
Foe's Poeffis, pp. xxviii f. 



INTRODUCTION xlv 

his Spirits of the Dead he relied on Byron both for the general 
situation and for some of the language of his poem. Byron's 
couplet {^Manfred, I, i, 11. 204-205), 

There are shades which will not vanish, 
There are thoughts thou canst not banish, 

reappears in Spirits of the Dead (11. 19-20) as 

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish, 
Now are visions ne'er to vanish. 

And his lines (^Manfred, I, i, 11. 198-201), 

[When] the silent leaves are still 
In the shadow of the hill. 
Shall my soul be upon thine. 
With a power and with a sign, 

also reappear, but more successfully disguised, as 

The breeze — the breath of God — is still — 
And the mist upon the hill. 
Shadowy — shadowy — yet unbroken. 
Is a symbol and a token. 

Other, though less striking, parallels betv^een the two poems are 
pointed out in the Notes.-^ And there are reminiscences of Byron 
in a half-dozen other poems.^ Howr far Poe was indebted to the 
English poet for the strain of melancholy, the note of disappointed 
ambition and of wounded pride, that pervades his youthful work, 
it is impossible to say, but it is reasonable to assume that Byron's 
influence made itself felt here to some extent. 

Poe's debts to Milton and to Moore appear mainly in the long 
poem Al Aaraaf. The first third of the second part of this 
poem — in particular, the description of the temple of Nesace — 
is a not unskillfully executed piece of mosaic made up largely 

^ See the notes on Spirits of the Dead, 11. 1-2, 11 f. 

2 See the notes on Dreajns, II. 17-18; Al Aaraaf, Part II, 11. 68 f., 
72-74, 80-83, 134; the earlier To Helen, 11. 11-13; The Sleeper, 11. 45-47; 
and the general note on A Dream within a Dream. 



xlvi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

of materials drawn from Paradise Lost. The temple of Nesace 
is evidently copied after Milton's Pandemonium ; and the dome 
of this temple, " let down " " by linked light from Heaven," with 
its " window of one circular diamond " through which light is 
transmitted from the presence of God into this temple, appears to 
be compounded of Milton's mystic stairway leading down from 
the throne of God and the golden chain by which he represents 
this world as " linked " to the empyrean. The first line of the 
second part of Al Aaraaf, 

High on a mountain of enamell'd head, 

suggests the opening line of the second book of Paradise Lost : 
High on a throne of royal state, etc. 

I have pointed out in the notes on Al Aaraaf still other resem- 
blances to Milton's epic,-^ and Poe himself acknowledges in his 
footnotes several slight obligations to Milton's minor poems.^ 

The influence of Moore appears most plainly in the catalogue 
of flowers near the beginning of the first part of Al Aaraaf, 
and is to be seen, also, in the story of Angelo and lanthe in 
the concluding section of that poem. The description of the 
bed of flowers amidst which the queen of Al Aaraaf kneels while 
offering up her prayer to the Deity is based, in large part, on 
passages culled from Lalla Rookh, together with Moore's notes 
on them, the phrasing in some places being brought over almost 
verbatim^ Moore's note on the " Nelumbo bud," — to give but 
a single example — " The Indians feign that Cupid was first seen 
floating down the Ganges on the Nymphaea Nelumbo " (" The 
Light of the Haram," 11. 587-592), — Poe reproduces in Al 
Aaraaf in the following couplet (Part I, 11. 78-79) : 

And the Nelumbo bud that floats for ever 
With Indian Cupid down the holy river, 

1 See the notes on Al Aaraaf, Part II, 11. 1-39, 11 f., 16, 20, 22 f., 31 f„ 
60 f., 67, 221-224. 

2 Cf. the notes on Al Aaraaf, Part I, 1. 105 ; Part II, 11. 16, 181, 

3 See Stedman and Woodberry, X, p. 223. 



INTRODUCTION xlvii 

and adds in a footnote : " It is a fiction of the Indians, that Cupid 
was first seen floating in one of these down the river Ganges." 
The story of Angelo and lanthe is, I believe, an imitation of the 
first angel's story in The Loves of the Angels, though the parallel- 
ism between the two is mainly in situation and in mood, with only 
here and there a resemblance in phrase. Another example of 
borrowing from Moore is furnished by the early lyric Evening 
Star, which loosely paraphrases the first half of Moore's song 
While Gazing on the Moon's Light. And both Tamerlane and 
Fairy-Land may possibly owe something to the Irish poet.^ 

Poe's indebtedness to Coleridge, whom Professor Woodberry 
once declared to be " the guiding Genius of Poe's entire intel- 
lectual life," ^ is mainly, so far as the poems are concerned, quite 
intangible, though not the less real. It is seen in the unconscious 
reproduction of his style and atmosphere rather than in the ap- 
propriation of his ideas or in the copying of his diction. As such 
it is discoverable in The City in the Sea especially, and also in 
Bridal Ballad, Lsrafel, Fai^j-Land, and The Sleeper, and perhaps 
also in The Raven and Annabel Lee. In an even less palpable 
way Coleridge influenced Poe through supplying him with certain 
favorite poetical theories, first set forth by Poe in his Letter to 

B , published as a preface to 1831, and later and more fully 

in The Poetic Principle ^ — theories which Poe applied in his own 
verses with notable consistency. Some of the critics* of Poe's 

1 See the notes on Tamerlane, 11. 75-76, and Fairy-Land, 1. 33. 

2 Woodberry, Edgar Allan Poe, American Men of Letters Series, p. 93 ; 
the phrase " early " is substituted for " entire " in his revised Life, I, p. 177. 
See also an article " The New Poe " in the Atlantic Monthly, LXXVII, 
pp. 551 f., where it is asserted that " the effect of Coleridge's influence on 
Poe has never been properly estimated," and that he " transmitted a special 
and unique influence to him alone." 

3 See in this connection the introduction to F. C. Prescott's Selections 
from the Critical Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, pp. xxxii f . 

* Their contention has the support of Stedman ; see the Stedman- 
Woodberry edition of Poe's works, X, p. xxvi ; but Professor C. Alphonso 
Smith (Repetition and Parallelism in English Verse, pp. 51 f.) suggests a 
direct indebtedness to the English ballad. 



xlviii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

time held that the repetend as vised in The Raven was a reflection 
of the influence of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. And there 
are a few resemblances in phrase which point to a still more 
substantial indebtedness to Coleridge. The most striking of these 
is found in the much-discussed line in the briefer lyric To 
Helen (1831): 

Like those Nicean barks of yore, 

which bears a manifest resemblance to a line of Coleridge's in 
his Youth and Age (1828): 

Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore. 

Other verbal parallelisms are commented on in the notes on 
Israfel and Fairy-Land} 

To Shelley, Poe's indebtedness is distinctly less than his in- 
debtedness to Coleridge ; though, as in the case of Coleridge, 
the indebtedness is mainly impalpable, — a thing of color and 
mood and atmosphere. The poems most in the Shelleyan manner 
are To Ofie in Paradise and The City in the Sea (which suggest 
Shelley's Lines Written among the Euganean Hills') and Dream- 
La nd and the Sonnet — To Silence (which resemble parts of Pro- 
metheus Unl>ound). The closest parallel with Shelley that I have 
obsei-ved is that existing between a passage in Bream-Land 
(11. 21-25, 27): 

By the lakes that thus outspread 
Their lone waters, lone and dead, — 
Their sad waters, sad and chilly 
With the snows of the lolling lily, — 
By the mountains — near the river 



By the grey woods, — by the swamp. 



1 See the article of Professor James Routh in Modern Language Notes, 
XXIX, pp. 72-73, and the communication of Mr. H. T. Baker in the 
same journal, XXV, pp. 94-95. 



INTRODUCTION xlix 

and four lines from the second act of Proi7ietheus Unbound 
(so. i, 11. 203-206) : 

By the forests, lakes, and fountains 
Thro' the many-folded mountains ; 
To the rents, and gulphs, and chasms. 
Where the Earth reposed from spasms.^ 

To Wordsworth, with whom he professed to have scant sym- 
pathy, Poe seems to have owed but little. There is an evident 
resemblance between two lines in The Valley of Unrest: 

That palpitate like the chill seas 
Around the misty Hebrides, 

and Wordsworth's magic lines in The Solitary Reaper: 

Breaking the silence of the seas 
Among the farthest Hebrides ; 

a line in an early version of Romance, 

Gone are the glory and the gloom, 

suggests a couplet from the Ode on Intimations of Immoiiality : 

Whither is fled the visionary gleam ? 

Where is it now, the glory and the dream ? — 

and \\'ordsworth's " clouds of glory " appears in a rejected version 

of the lines To (" Not long ago," etc.). But each 

of these resemblances may be accidental. A more suspicious 

1 Certain lines in Tamerlane seem to affect the Shelleyan manner, as 

The bodiless spirits of the storms, 
and 

As perfume of strange summer flowers ; 

and the following couplet in an early text of At Aaraaf: 

On the sweetest air doth float 
The most sad and solemn note, 

is possibly a reminiscence of Shelley's line in the ode To a Skylark, 
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought 



1 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

parallel with Wordsworth occurs in the lines To Sarah (among 
the poems attributed to Poe), the opening stanza of which: 

When melancholy and alone, 
I sit on some moss-covered stone 

Beside a murm'ring stream ; 
I think I hear thy voice's sound 
In every tuneful thing around, 

Oh ! what a pleasant dream, 

seems to have been written under the influence of the initial 
stanza of Wordsworth's Expostulation atid Reply : 

Why, William, on that old grey stone, 
Thus for the length of half a day. 
Why, William, sit you thus alone. 
And dream your time away ? 

It is clear that Keats furnished the immediate suggestion of 
the Sonnet — To Science, the second half of which parallels fairly 
closely the opening lines of Lamia ; and he may have suggested 
to Poe the identification of silence with the music of the spheres 
in Al Aaraa/ (Part I, 11. 124-125) : 

A sound of silence on the startled ear 

Which dreamy poets name " the music of the sphere," — 

which obviously resembles Keats.'s 

Silence was music from the holy spheres.^ 

And he surely owed to Mrs. Browning the suggestion of several 
lines in The Raven. The thirteenth line of The Raven — 

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain — 

was plainly inspired by Mrs. Browning's 

With a murmurous stir uncertain, in the air the purple curtain ; ^ 

"^ Endymion, II, 1. 675. 

2 Lady Geraldine's Courtship, 1. 381. 



INTRODUCTION li 

and two other lines : 

But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,^ 
and 

Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted,^ 

were evidently influenced by Mrs. Browning's 

Ever, evermore the while in a slow silence she kept smiling ^ 

and 

O'er the desolate sand-desert of my heart and life undone.^ 

Still other resemblances to Mrs. Browning's poem are pointed out 
in the notes on lines 33-34, 79-80, and 104-105 of The Raven\ 
and it is not unlikely that certain of the metrical peculiarities of 
The Raven were prompted by Mrs. Browning's example.^ 

Tennyson appears to have exerted little influence on Poe, though 
several abortive accusations of plagiarism from his early poems 
have been brought, at one time or another, against the American 
poet.^ Hood in his sonnet Silence probably set Poe about writ- 
ing his own sonnet on the same subject, — though this sonnet, as 
already noted, resembles also a passage in Prometheus Ujibound. 

Waller's Hne, 

My joy, my grief, my hope, my fear,'' 

is perhaps the ultimate source of a line in Israfel: 
Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love, 

and Professor Trent has called attention to a parallel between some 
lines in Lovelace's To Althea.from Prison and the fourth stanza of 
Tlie Haunted Palace? In Al Aaraaf the poet borrows a simile 

1 The Raven, 1. 67. ^ Lady Geraldhie's Courtship, 1. 389. 

2 Ibid., 1. 87. * Ibid., 1. 380. 

5 See the note on The Raven, 11. i f. 

6 See the Athenaum, March 20, 1875, P- 395 5 ^^e Spectator, January i, 
1853 ; the London Foreign Quarterly Review, January, 1844 ; and the note 
prefixed to the " Poems Written in Youth " as republished in 1845. 

■^ On a Girdle, 1. 7. 

^ See the note on The Haunted Palace, 1. 32. 



lii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

from Marlowe, and a rhyme (confessedly) from Scott.^ From 
Shakespeare, Poe seems to have borrowed nothing, though there 
are allusions here and there to well-known passages in his plays.^ 
Quotations from Webster, and Peele, and Sir Thomas Wyatt are 
incorporated into the FoUtian^ and a line from Farquhar is 
imbedded in an early text of The Valley of Ujirest. 

To the French and other Continental writers, Poe apparently 
owed very little. The basic idea and one striking line of Israfel he 
probably borrowed from Beranger ; the two epithets applied to the 
island of Zante (first in Al Aaraaf and again in the Sonnet — To 
Zante) he apparently took from Chateaubriand ; * some of the 
material used in The Coliseum he perhaps found in Quevedo ; ^ 
and he may, in common with Coleridge and Wordsworth and 
Scott, have owed something to Biirger.^ From the Odyssey he 
borrowed three fine lines — perhaps translated by himself — • for 
insertion in his Politian? 

And he was but little influenced by the American poets, — 
though here and there he might have taken a hint from one or 
another of them. He probably owed something, though but little, 
to the Georgia poet, Thomas Holley Chivers.^ A line in The City 
in the Sea resembles one of N. P. Willis's early lines.^ For one 
of his stanzas in Ulaluffie he probably took certain hints from 

^ See the note on X I Aaraaf, Part II, 11. 140-141. 

2 See the notes on Politian, II, 1. 23 ; III, 1. 23 ; Al Aaraaf, Part II, 
1. 60; For Annie, 11. 63 f.; and The Bells, 1. 50. 

3 II, 11. 18-20; II, 11. 34-35 ; III, 11. 70 f. 

* Cf. the Stedman-Woodberry edition of Poe's works, X, pp. 176-177. 
And see also pp. 1S5-1S6 of the same volume for the suggestion that The 
Bells owed something to Chateaubriand. 

6 See the note on lines 26-32 of The Coliseum. 

^ See the notes on Lenore. The claim of an indebtedness to Lucian in 
Dream-Land, made by F. L. Fairfield in Scribner''s Monthly, X, p. 695, is 
plainly untenable ; and so with the suggestion of Hutton [Poe's Poe?ns, 
p. xlv) that he was indebted to Mangan (cf. C. A. Smith's Repetition and 
Pa7-allelism ifi English Verse, p. 55). 

T Politian, II, 11. 8-10. 

8 See for this much-discussed question, the introductory note on The 
Raven. 9 Cf. the note on The City in the Sea, 1. 9. 



INTRODUCTION liii 

Thomas Buchanan Read's Chtistine} A line in the later To Helen 
may have been suggested by one of Mrs. Sarah J. Hale's lines in 
her Three Hours, and another line "in the same poem was possibly 
suggested by one of Henry B. Hirst's sonnets.^ A line in The 
Haunted Palace is perhaps an echo of the refrain of G. P. Morris's 
Near the Lake? And the title of The Conqueror Worm was ap- 
parently suggested, as Mr. Ingram has noted, by one of Spencer 
Wallace Cone's poems.* 

That Poe's imitations of Moore and Byron reflect no credit on 
him goes without saying. In one or two instances, indeed — as 
in the paraphrasing of Moore in the first part of Al Aaraaf and 
the copying of Byron in Spirits of the Dead — Poe would seem to 
have exceeded the bounds of propriety ; certainly he copied in 
these poems with an audacity such as he would not have permitted 
in another without vigorous protest.^ But it is on the work of his 
middle and later periods that Poe's claims to originality must rest ; 
and in these no indebtedness appears that is not amply repaid by 
him. There are few points on which Poe's critics are more com- 
pletely agreed than on his extraordinary originality as poet.^ 

1 See the note on Ulaliime, 11. 56-60. 

2 Cf. the notes on To Helen, 11. 34-35 and 65-66. 

3 See the note on The Haii7ited Palace, 1. 12. 

* See the London Bibliophile, May, 1909, p. 135. 

5 Cf. his series of papers attacking Longfellow in the so-called " Long- 
fellow War" (Harrison, XII, pp. 41 f.), which constitutes one of the most 
discreditable episodes in Poe's entire career. 

•^ See further, on this point, pp. Ivii-lviii, below. For Poe's influence on 
other poets and on his vogue, especially in foreign countries, see Edmund 
Gosse, Qicestions at Issue, p. 90 ; L. P. Betz, " Edgar Poe in der franzo- 
sischen Litteratur," Stiidien ziir z'ergleichenden Litterahi7-geschichte der 
neuerefi Zeit, 1902, pp. 16-82; C. H. Page, "Poe in France," the New 
York Nation, January 14, 1909 (LXXXVIII, pp. 32-34); Alcee Fortier, 
The Book of the Poe Ce7itena7y, ed. C. W. Kent and John S. Patton, pp. 41- 
72; Arthur Ransome, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Stndy, pp. 219-237; 
Georg Edward, The Book of the Poe Centenary, pp. 73-99; Abraham 
Yarmolinsky, " The Russian View of American Literature," the New York 
Bookman, vSeptember, 1916 (XLIV, pp. 44-46); and John De Lancey 
Ferguson, American Literature in Spain, pp. 55-86. 



liv THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

VI. THE CLASH OF THE CRITICS WITH RESPECT 
TO POE'S POEMS 

About the worth of Poe's poems there has been a wide differ- 
ence of opinion.^ Emerson in a memorable conversation with 
Mr. William Dean Howells once dubbed Poe contemptuously the 
" jingle man." ^ The late Henry James, in an even more famous 
deliverance, has described Poe's poems as " very valueless verses," 
and in the same connection has declared that " an enthusiasm for 
Poe is the mark of a decidedly primitive stage of reflection." * 
Professor Barrett Wendell, in one of the earliest of his essays on 
American literature, pronounced Poe to be " fantastic and mere- 
tricious throughout";* and Professor Henry A. Beers, in a 
discussion of the romanticists of the nineteenth century, has placed 
Poe alongside of Baudelaire among the " false gods." ^ Mr. W. 
C. Brown ell, one of the subtlest of our critics, asserts with 
emphasis that Poe's writings, whether poems or tales, " lack the 
elements not only of great, but of real, literature," and that " as 
literature " they are " essentially valueless." ® 

But Professor George Saintsbuiy — one of the foremost of living 
English critics — gives it as his opinion that Poe belongs to the 

^ The most important critical articles dealing with Poe as a poet are the 
chapter devoted to Poe by E. C. Stedman in his volume, The Poets of 
A))ierica, pp. 225-272 ; the essay by the same author prefixed to the tenth 
volume of the Stedman- Woodberry edition of Poe's works, pp. xiii-xxxv; 
the essay by Professor C. F. Richardson entitled " Edgar Allan Poe, 
World- Author," in iiis edition of the works of Poe, I, pp. ix-liii ; the chap- 
ter devoted to Poe by Mr. J. M. Robertson in his New Essays towards 
a Critical Method, pp. 55-130 ; and an article by Mr. W. C. Brownell, " The 
Distinction of Poe's Genius," first published in Scribnei's Magazine, 
January, 1909, and later in his volume, American Prose Writers, pp. 205- 
267. Important critical matter is also contained in the biographies of Poe, 
especially in those of Woodberry and Ingram. 

^ Howells, Literary Friends and Acqtiaintaftce, p. 63. 

2 French Poets and Novelists (London, 1878), p. 76. 

^ Stelligeri and Other Essays concerning America, p. 138. 

5 A History of English Romatiticis7n in the Nineteenth Century, p. 300. 

^ American Prose Masters, p. 231. 



INTRODUCTION Iv 

" first order of poets." ^ One of Mr. Saintsbury's colleagues, Pro- 
fessor William Minto, as if in set defiance of the anathema pro- 
nounced against Poe's admirers by Henry James, declares that 
Poe appeals to the feelings "with a force that has never been 
surpassed." "^ And Stoddard, also, one of Poe's chief detractors, 
declares (I, p. x) that " unlike many poets, he affects all who are 
capable of being touched by poetry." Mr. J. M. Robertson, dis- 
tinguished alike as statesman, philosopher, and critic, maintains 
that Poe " had a poetic quality of the highest kind." ^ Mr. Edmund 
Gosse, with something more of reserve, declares that Poe, had 
his range been less restricted, " must have been with the greatest 
poets " ; and he speaks of the " perennial charm " of Poe's verses.* 
Swinburne wrote in 1872, in summing up the American achieve- 
ment in literature to date : " Once as yet, and once only, has there 
sounded out of it all [the literature of America] one pure note 
of original song — worth singing, and echoed from the singing 
of no other man ; a note of song neither wide nor deep, but 
utterly true, rich, clear, and native to the singer ; the short exqui- 
site music, subtle and simple and somber and sweet, of Edgar Poe."* 
In France, Gautier speaks of Poe as " ce singulier ge'nie d'une 
individualite si rare, si tranchee, si exceptionnelle." ® Jules Lemaitre, 
in a highly extravagant " dialogue of the dead," couples Poe's 
name with the names of Shakespeare and Plato 1 And Baude- 
laire's admiration of Poe extended almost to deification : it was 
one of the " everlasting rules " of his life, so he wrote shortly 
before his death, '^ to pray every morning to God, the Fountain 
of all strength and of all justice ; to my father, to Mariette, and to 
Poe." '' In Russia, according to a recent critic, Mr. A. Yarmolinsky, 

1 See the Book of the Poe Centenary, ed. Kent and Patton, p. 203. 
"^ Encyclopasdia Britannica, 9th edition, article on Poe. 
^ A^etv Essays towards a Critical Alethod, p. 81. 
* Questions at Issue, p. 89. 
^ Under the Alicroscope, p. 53. 

® " Notice " of Baudelaire prefixed to the latter's Fleurs du Mai, p. 48. 
■^ Esme Stuart, " Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Poe : A Literary Affin- 
ity," Nineteenth Century, July, 1893, p. 78. 



Ivi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Poe " has come to be popularly identified . . . with the American 
literary genius in its highest achievements."^ In America, Lowell 
pronounced Poe — even before the publication of The Raven — 
one of the few American geniuses.^ And Professor C. H. Page 
has recorded the belief that Poe is " the only American poet . . . 
who can justly be said, in any strict and narrow use of the word, 
to have had genius."^ 

A like diversity of opinion prevails as to Poe's place among 
American poets. Tennyson is said to have accounted Poe " the 
most original American genius," and " not unworthy to stand 
beside Catullus, the most melodious of the Latins, and Heine, 
the most tuneful of the Germans."^ According to Mr. Gosse 
(writing in 1893) : " The posy of his still fresh and fragrant 
poems is larger than that of any other deceased American 
writer."^ Mr. William Butler Yeats, in a letter to the celebrators 
of the Poe centenary at the University of Virginia, pronounces 
him "the greatest of American poets, and always and for all 
lands a great lyric poet." ^ Both Victor Hugo, a good many 
years ago, and the gifted Georg Brandes, in recent years, are also 
said to have claimed for him the foremost place among American 
poets.'^ Among American literary historians, Onderdonk holds that 
Poe is " unquestionably our greatest lyric poet" ;^ and Newcomer 
writes, in his History of American Literature : ® "If we had not 
come to demand so much of poetry, there could be little hesi- 
tation in ranking Poe's with the very greatest in any language." 
Mr. John Macy, speaks of our " tardy recognition of Poe's su- 
premacy among American poets." ^° Mr. Charles Leonard Moore 

1 The New York Bookman, September, 1916 (XLIV, p. 44). 

2 See Lowell's article on Poe in Graham's Magazine, Februar)', 1845. 
^ The Chief American Poets, p. 663. 

* See the article of Professor Brander Matthews, on " Poe's Cosmo- 
politan Fame," in the Century Magazine, December, 1910 (LIX, p. 271). 
5 Questions at Isstie, p. 8. 6 Book of the Poe Centenary, p; 207. 

■^ See Richardson, I, p. xvi, and 77;;? Dial, June 16, 1914. 
^ A History of America?t Literature, p. 23S. 
9 P. 123. 10 Edgar Allan Poe, p. 28. 



INTRODUCTION Ivii 

boldly declares : " For myself, I have never doubted Poe's supremacy 
in American literature."^ French critics, too, have, as a rule, from 
the beginning, given Poe a place above other American poets, 
though they have not all been blind to his faults.^ Most American 
critics have been unwilling to concede to Poe so high a rating. 
" His narrowness of range, and the slender body of his poetic 
remains," says Stedman, " of themselves should make writers hesi- 
tate to pronounce him our greatest [poet]." ^ Richardson, in like 
manner, after granting that he is the " most broadly conspicuous 
of American writers," states that " to call him the greatest is 
impossible." * So, too, Professor W. P. Trent, though he holds 
that Poe is in some respects the first of American poets, main- 
tains, with Stedman, that because of the fewness of his poems 
he cannot be ranked with '' the greater poets." ^ And a similar 
view is taken by Professor Richard Burton.^ Mr. Brown ell, finally, 
declares that whatever greatness Poe may be allowed to possess 
as poet inheres in the quality of his verse ; and that " its quality 
is, in general, hardly such as to place him very high up on the 
fairly populous slopes of Parnassus." ^ 

In the matter of Poe's special qualities, there are, as must 
stand to reason, certain points on which the critics are substan- 
tially agreed. There is virtual agreement, first of all, that Poe 
displays in his poems extraordinary originality and individuality. 
"■ The utterance of Poe," writes Professor Wendell, " is as incon- 
testably, as triumphantly, itself, as is the note of a song bird." * 
" If Poe is not an original author," says Professor Richardson, 
" none ever lived." ^ " The poetry of Poe was a new creation," 

^ T/ie Dial, November i6, 1909. 

2 See, for instance, Hennequin, JScrivains francises, p. 14S, and G. D. 
Morris, Fenitnore Cooper ct Edgar Poe, pp. 87 f. and passhn. 

8 Poets 0/ America, p. 227. * JVorks of Poe, I, p. xxii. 

5 History of American Literature, p. 377. 

® Literary Leaders of America, p. 72. 

■^ American Prose Masters, p. 217. 

^ Book of the Poe Centenary, p. 132. 

^ Works of Poe, I, p. xxxvii. 



Iviii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

writes Churton Collins ; and then adds : " He stands absolutely 
alone." ^ According to Professor F. L. Pattee, "All that he wrote 
was distinctly his own, original in its melody and form, and per- 
meated through and through with his peculiar personality." ^ And 
Mr. Brownell, though he charges, with Griswold, that " Poe pil- 
laged and plagiarized freely," admits, nevertheless, that Poe was 
" extremely individual." ^ Henry James, too, in spite of his 
sweeping disparagement of Poe on other grounds, speaks of his 
" very original genius." * Newcomer hazards the opinion that 
Poe was perhaps the " least ' influenced ' of all melodious poets 
since Spenser." ^ 

There is little difference of opinion, also, as to Poe's superior 
gifts as melodist. " Without doubt," says Stedman, " a distinc- 
tive melody is the element in Poe's verse that first and last has 
told on every class of readers " ; ^ and to a correspondent in later 
years he described him as the " paragon of melodists." " " He 
possessed the two fundamental attributes of a poet, melody and 
imagination, in a supreme degree," writes Newcomer ; ^ and 
Mr. Gosse speaks of his " unparalleled gifts of melodious inven- 
tion."^ An English editor, Skipsey,^° declares: "In the specialty 
of melody, he excels Collins, and indeed all others except some 
two or three of the very greatest poets in the English tongue." 
Mr. Charles Leonard Moore claims that " in magic and melody 
he is overmatched among modem English poets by Coleridge, 
Keats, and Tennyson alone, and by them only in quantity, not 
in quality." ^^ 

1 Studies in Poetry and Criticism, p. 44. 

2 History of American Literature, p. 178. 

3 American Prose Masters, pp. 207-208. 

* French Poets and Novelists, London, 1878 (p. 76). 

^ Ame7-ican Literature, p. 117. 

6 Works of Poe, ed. Stedman and Woodberry, X, p. xvi. 

'' Life and Letters of Stedman, II, p. 114. 

^ American Literature, p. 124. 

3 Questions at Lssue, p. 89. 

10 Poetical Works of Poe, prefatory notice. 

11 The Dial, November 16, 1909. 



INTRODUCTION lix 

There is essential agreement, too, as to Poe's excellence as 
artist, though it is conceded by all that he sometimes failed to 
conceal his art effectively. Professor ^^'oodberry, for instance, 
speaks of the " exquisite construction " shown in his poems, but 
notes, with reference particularly to the later poems, that " if any 
one presses the charge of artifice home, it must be allowed just." ^ 
Stedman praises without stint the craftsmanship displayed in some 
of the poems of Poe's middle period, but admits that " we . . . 
are halted often throughout his later lyrics by the persistence of 
their metrical devices.'' - Collins declares " an artist more con- 
summate never existed," but obser\-es in the same connection 
that in certain of his poems " he reveled in the display of mere 
mechanical craftsmanship." ^ Griswold admits that Poe's verses 
" are constructed with wonderful ingenuit)-, and finished with 
consummate art," but complains, with characteristic severit)', that 
there was in the construction of them " an absence of all im- 
pulse," an " absolute control of calculation and mechanism." * 
Mr. Brownell pronounces Poe '' the solitary artist of our elder 
literature," but adds that at times he shows himself to be " the 
artist rather than the poet and the technician rather than the 
artist." ^ Mr. Lewas E. Gates, after setting forth a fantastic 
'' inventor}- of Poe's workshop," remarks : " Masterly as is Poe's 
use of this poetical outfit, subtle as are his cadences and his 
sequences of tone-color, it is only rarely that he makes us forget 
the cleverness of his manipulation and wins us into accepting his 
moods and imager}' with that unconscious and almost hypnotic sub- 
jection to his will which the true poet secures from his readers." ® 
Mr. Robertson, in the midst of his praise of Poe, admits that both 
Lefwre and The Raveii, as well as The Bells, "' have a certain 



1 Life of Poe, II, pp. 75, 170. 

2 Poe's Works, ed. Stedman and Woodberr)-, X, p. xxiv. 

* Studies in Poetry and Criticism, p. 43. 

* " Memoir," p. xlviii. 

^ American Prose Masters, pp. 208, 217. 

* Studies and Appreciations, p. 1 10. 



Ix THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

smell of the lamp, an air of compilation, a suspicion of the in- 
organic." ^ And Mr. Stebbing, after dwelling on the artistic excel- 
lence of most of the poems, remarks, apropos of the suggestion 
of artifice in The Raven : " With himself confirming the suspicion, 
it becomes at least practicable to persuade ourselves that we smell 
the sawdust and oil of the workshop.'" - 

It is plain, too, that the volume of Poe's verse is small, and that 
the body of his verse of superior worth and significance is extremely 
small, amounting in all to scarcely more than a dozen poems and 
to not above fifteen hundred lines. It is equally plain that his 
range, whether of literary form or of subject-matter, is narrow, 
being confined, on the one hand, to the lyric, and, on the other, 
so far as his better poems are concerned, to a scant half dozen 
subjects. It is ob\aous, too, that most of his earlier poems and 
several of the later ones are either fragmentar)- or uneven, or both. 
And it is manifest that there is nothing of humor in Poe's verses. 

On these three or four points there is prett}" general agreement. 
But for the rest there is, again, the widest conflict of opinion. 
According to some of the critics, the poems of Poe are wanting 
both in substance and in depth. His verses are " empt}^ of thought," 
says Mr. John Burroughs.^ Mr. Bro\ATiell urges a similar objection.'* 
And Henr}' James, in a re\dsed edition of his essay on Baudelaire, 
in which he had originally spoken of Poe's verses as " valueless," 
substitutes for this phrase the almost equally astonishing epithet 
" superficial."^ But there have always been those who have stood 
ready to defend Poe on this count. Professor W. B. Cairns holds 
that " it is not true . . . that thought is absent " from Poe's verses, 
but that each of the poems, wdth the exception of 77ie Bells, " has 
a definite and sufficient content."® Mr. Charles Leonard Moore 



1 Xew Essays, P- 77- 

- Chaucer to Tennyson, II, p. 205. 

3 The Dial, October 16, 1893. 

* American Prose Masters, p. 231. 

5 French Poets and Novelists (London, 1893), p. 60. 

^ History of American Literature, p. 422. 



IXTRODUCTIOX Ixi 

declares that it is Poe's '"' superior weight of meaning which . . . 
enables him to ovemm the boundaries of his own countr)- and 
speech." ^ And Mr. Robertson, in commenting on Mr. James's 
charge of superficiality-, exclaims : " \Mien was verse so aspersed 
before .' '' - 

By some of the critics, again, it has been objected that the 
matter of Poe's verse is too far removed from the things of 
ordinan,^ life, that the poet dwelt too much in an ideal world ; and 
by still others that his poems are \\-ithout moral significance. 
" Poe wanted as a man," says Andrew Lang, '' what his poetry 
also lacks: he wanted humanit)-."^ ''Life as we know it he 
scarcely touches at all." says Newcomer.^ Duyckinck. a friend of 
Poe at one time, declared : " He lived entirely apart from the 
solidities and realities of life : was an abstraction : thought, wTote, 
and dealt solely in abstractions."^ Of his alleged lack of whole- 
someness and moralit\% Professor Brander Matthews ^\Tites : 
" There is no moral purpose, either explicit or implicit, to be 
discovered in his poetry," and, again: "His poems . . . lack 
not only moral purpose, but also spiritual meaning " : ® while 
Churton Collins declares that " of moralit}", or of an}-thing per- 
taining to moralit}-, he has nothing."' and adds that his verses 
" never kindled a generous emotion or a noble thought." * Pro- 
fessor Richardson, on the other hand, protests that " it is an error 
to call Poe soul-less, non-ethical, pagan, a man of morbid taste, 
unrelated to the great problems of source, life, and destinv."® 
And Mr. Robertson says, -n-ith reference to the complaint that 
" Poe's poetT}- conveys no moral teachings or descriptions of life 

1 Tlie Dial, November i6, 1909. 

- Xew Essays, p. 76. 

^ Poems of Poe, ed. Lang. p. xiv. 

* American Literature, p. 124. 

' Literary World, Januar)- 26, 1850 (VI, p. 81). 

® Century Magazine, December, 1910, p. 272. 

' Studies in Poetry and Criticism, p. 42. 

s Ibid., p. 45. 

® Poe''s Works, I, pp. 1-li. 



Ixii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

and scenery," that this " objection need only be conceived to be 
dismissed."^ An anonymous contributor to the British Quarterly 
Review^ who writes with evident discrimination in most particulars, 
takes the extreme position that Poe's " ethical import is so unmis- 
takably a part of his art, that ... we must assert it is everywhere 
burdened by the ethos. '^ 

The critics have differed, too, as to the quality of Poe's imagi- 
nation and as to the sincerity and spontaneity of his emotion. 
Professor Wendell, as already noted, pronounces poems and tales 
alike to be melodramatic.^ Walt Whitman assigns to Poe an 
ultimate place " among the electric lights of imaginative literature, 
brilliant and dazzling, but with no heat." * Griswold objected that 
Poe's poems " evince litde genuine feeling " ; ^ and Lowell, in his 
famous characterization of the poet in his Fable for Critics, com- 
plained, — ^with evident allusion to the poems, — that "the heart 
somehow seems all squeezed out by the mind." Stoddard asserts 
that " there is nothing in Poe's poetry which indicates that it was 
written from the heart," that " there is a simulation of emotion in 
it, but the emotion is . . . imaginary-." ^ And of Ulalume, which 
has been laid hold of oftener than any of the rest of the poems to 
illustrate this alleged defect, he says : " I can perceive no trace 
of grief in it, no intellectual sincerity, but a diseased determination 
to create the strange, the remote, and the terrible, and to exhaust 
ingenuity in order to do so." " No healthy mind," he goes on, 
" was ever impressed " by it.'' But Professor Woodberry suggests 
that we pprhaps have in Ulalume " the most spontaneous, the 
most unmistakably genuine utterance of Poe " ; * and Mr. Robert- 
son asserts of The City in the Sea : " It cannot for a moment be 

1 iVeu' Essays, p. 8i. 

2 July, 1875 (LXII, p. 212). 
s Stelligeri, p. 138. 

* lV?iitman''s Complete Prose Works (Philadelphia, 1897), p. 157. 
^ " Memoir," p. xlviii. 

6 Works of Poe, I, p. viii. 

7 Ibid., p. 149. 

8 Lfe of Poe, II, p. 235. 



INTRODUCTION Ixiii 

pretended of these verses, even by the sciolists of criticism, that 
they lack 'inspiration' and spontaneity of movement."^ Churton 
Collins, after complaining of the excess of the mechanical in some 
of the poems, admits that " the fascination and witchery of much 
of Poe's poetry had its origin from mystic sources of genuine 
inspiration." ^ 

By others, finally, it has been held that Poe relied too much at 
times on musical effects in verse, that, like Lanier, he attempted 
in language " feats that only the gamut can make possible." This 
view has been put forward by Stoddard^ and by Professor W. 
C. Bronson* and Mr. Robertson,^ among others; and Ulalume, 
again, in particular, has been instanced as giving exemplification of 
this fault. But Theodore Watts-Dunton, in his essay on " Poetry," 
in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, singles out this very poem to 
illustrate the skillful and legitimate employment of musical devices 
for poetic ends, and has no word of dispraise for Poe in this 
connection.*^ 

This conflict of opinion, it may be added, is peculiar to no one 
period of the history of Poe criticism. During the poet's lifetime, 

^ N'eii) Essays, p. 87. 

2 Studies in Poetry and Criticism, p. 43. 

8 Poe's Works, I, pp. ix, 149. 

* A ShoH History of Atnerican Litej-atiire, p. 167. 

^ Neiv Essays, p- 87. 

6 It is interesting to observe that there has also been much difference 
of opinion as to the relative excellence of single poems. Popular opinion 
inclines to give first place to The" Raven. But Poe, we can be sure, was 
well aware of the superior excellence, at least in the matter of poetic 
quality, of some of his early work. To a New England correspondent he 
wrote in 1848 that he considered The Sleeper "in the higher qualities" of 
poetry better than The Raven ; and to Mrs. Richmond he declared in 1849 
that he believed For Annie "much the best" of all his poems. Few 
students of Poe have subscribed to the popular verdict in favor of The 
Raven. Mallarme preferred both Ulalume and For Anjiie to The Raven. 
Professor Page gives first place to Ulalume. Mr. Stebbing follows Poe in 
allotting first place to For Annie. Richardson holds that Poe never sur- 
passed his early lyric To Helen. John Nichol and Mr. Ingram give first 
place to Annabel Lee. And both Stedman and Professor Woodberry 
declare Israfel to be the most precious of all the lyrics that Poe wrote. 



Ixiv THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

certain of the critics, as Willis at the North and P. P. Cooke in 
the South, stood ever ready to sing his praises, while the New 
England school (with the exception of Lowell and a few others) 
were, on most points, arrayed against him. Since his death the 
pendulum has swung, slowly but steadily, towards a more favor- 
able estimate ; though there are still those who, with Mr. Brownell, 
can find little to commend in Poe beyond his artistry. Abroad, 
the estimate that has prevailed, especially in France, has been more 
favorable than that which has generally obtained in America. 

If an explanation be sought of this extraordinary diversity of 
opinion, it will be found mainly in the world-old difference among 
critics as to the province and aims of poetry, the traditional clash 
between those who insist on the inculcation of moral ideas as the 
chief business of poetry and those who adhere to the doctrine of 
art for art's sake.^ But it will be found in part in the fact that 
not a few of the critics — especially of the earlier critics — have 
allowed themselves to be influenced in their judgments by what 
they knew — or believed themselves to know — about the irregu- 
larities of Poe's life and character ; ^ and in part, also, by the fact 
that a number of the critics have based their judgments of Poe, 
as most laymen do to-day, on only a few of the poems, the better- 
known Raven and Bells and Annabel Lee, ignoring such poems as 
Israfel, Tlie City in the Sea, and The Sleeper, certainly as richly 
poetic as anything that Poe wrote. 

1 With Poe believing as he did that the sole province of poetry is beauty 

(see the Letter to B and The Poetic Principle) and fitting his practice 

so consistently to his creed, it was inevitable that many of the critics should 
align themselves sharply against him, and equally inevitable that some 
should come strongly to his defense. 

2 Some, too, as Baudelaire, may have been influenced in the opposite 
direction by what they believed to be the injustice done Poe by Griswold 
and other early biographers. 



ABBREVIATIONS 

1827 : Tavte7-lane and Other Poems. By a Bostonian [Edgar A. Poe]. 

Boston, 1827. 
1829 : Al Aaraaf, Tamerlatie, and Minor Poems. By Edgar A. Poe. 

Baltimore, 1829. 
1831 : Poems. By Edgar A. Poe. New York, 1831. 
1845 : The Raven and Other Poeins. By Edgar A. Poe. New York, 

1845. 
1850 : Poe's Poems in Vol. II. of TJie Works of the Late Edgar Allan 

Poe, ed. Rufus W. Griswold, New York, 1850. 
A.W. R. : The Afnerican Whig Review (New York). 
B.G.M. : Burton's Gentleman's Magazine {Fhiladelphia). 
B. J. : The Broadway Journal (New York). 
B.M.: The Baltijnore Museum. 
Brownell : The chapter on Poe in W. C. Brownell's Ameiican Prose 

Masters., New York, 1909. 
Casket : The Philadelphia Casket. 
Critic : The Critic (London). 
Didier : The Life and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe., ed. E. L. Didier, 

revised edition, New York, 1879. 

E. M. : The Evening Mirror (New York). 
Examiner : The Rich)no7id Exa7niner. 

F. 0. U. : The Flag of Our Union (Boston). 
G.L.B. : Godefs Ladfs Book (Philadelphia). 
Graham's : Graham's Magazine (Philadelphia). 

Griswold : The Prose Writers of A/nerica, ed. Rufus W. Griswold, 

Philadelphia, 1847, 1849, etc. 
Harrison : The Complete Works of Edgar Allati Poe, ed. James A. 

Harrison, New York [1902]. 
H. J. : The Home Journal (New York). 
Ingram : Edgar Allati Poe: His Life, Letters, and Opinions. By John 

H. Ingram, revised and enlarged edition, London, 1891. 
Ixv 



Ixvi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

L.E. : The Literary E»iporiu)n (New York). 

Letters : \(A. XVII of Harrison's edition of Poe's works. 

L.M. : Leaflets of Memory (Philadelphia). 

L.W.: The Literary /r^v-/,;' (New York). 

Markham : The essay by Edwin INIarkham on " The Art and Genius of 

Poe " in Vol. I of the Cameo Edition of Poe's works. New York [ 1 904]. 
M. M. : The Missionary Memorial (New York). 
Pioneer : The Pioneer (Boston). 
P. J. : The Daily Journal (Providence). 
P. P. A.: The Poets and Poetry of America, ed. Rufus ^^^ Griswold, 

Philadelphia, 1842, 1847, 1848, 1850, etc. 
Richardson : The Complete JVorks of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. C. F. 

Richardson, New York [1902]. 
Robertson : The chapter on Poe in J. M. Robertson's A V«' Essays to- 
wards a Critical Method, London, 1897. 
Sat. C. : The Saturday Courier (Philadelphia). 
S.E.P. : The Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia). 
S. L. M. : The Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond). 
S.M. : The Saturday Museum (Philadelphia). 
S. M. V. : The Saturday Morning Visiter (Baltimore). 
Stedman and Woodberry : The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. E. C. 

Stedman and George E. Woodberry, Chicago, 1 894-1 895; revised 

edition, New York, 1914. 
Stoddard : The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. R. H. Stoddard, New 

York. 1894. 
Tales (1840) : Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. By Edgar A. Poe. 

Philadelphia, 1S40. 
Tales (1845): Tales. By Edgar A. Poe. New York, 1S45. 
Tribune : The A'eiu York Tribune. 

U.M. : The Union Magasine (Philadelphia and New York). 
Weiss (Mrs.): The Home Life of Poe. By Mrs. S. A. Weiss. New 

York, 1907. 
Whig : The Richmond Whig. 
Whitty : The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, 

Boston. 191 1. 
Woodberry : The Life of Edgar Allan Poe, revised edition. By George 

E. Woodberry, Boston, 1909. 
Yankee : The Boston Yankee and Literary Gazette 



THE POEMS OF 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 

TEXT OF THE POEMS 

TAMERLANE 

Kind solace in a dying hour ! 

Such, father, is not (now) my theme — 
I will not madly deem that power 

Of Earth may shrive me of the sin 
Unearthly pride hath revell'd in — 
I have no time to dote or dream : 



The text of 1827, inasmuch as it exhibits radical variations from the text 
adopted here (that of ^845), is reproduced in the footnotes in its entirety. 
Following this the variants for the rest of the printed texts are given. 
Italics are used in the footnotes to indicate the verbal variations from the 
adopted text (except that in the case of variants already in italics, a heavy- 
faced type is used). A list of the different volumes and periodicals in which 
each of the poems originally appeared is given in the Notes at the end 
of the volume. 

Text of 1827 
I. 

I have sent for thee, holy friar ; 
But 'twas not with the dninken hope, 
W/iich is but agony of desire 
To shun the fate, with which to cope 
Is more than crime may dare to dream, S 

That I have calPd thee at this hour : 
Such father is not my theme — 
Nor am I mad, to deem that power 
Of earth may shrive me of the sin 
Unearthly pride hath revell'd in — 10 



3 deem: think (1831). 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

You call it hope — that fire of fire ! 

It is but agony of desire : 

If I can hope — oh, God ! I can — 

Its fount is holier — more divine — 
I would not call thee fool, old man, 

But such is not a gift of thine. 

Know thou the secret of a spirit 

Bow'd from its wild pride into shame. 
O yearning heart ! I did inherit 

Thy withering portion with the fame, 
The searing glory which hath shone 
Amid the jewels of my throne. 
Halo of Hell ! and with a pain 
Not Hell shall make me fear again — 
O craving heart, for the lost flowers 
And sunshine of my summer hours ! 



I would not call thee fool, old man, 
But hope is not a gift of thine ; 
If I can hope (O God ! I can) 
It falls from an eternal shrine. 

II. 

The gay wall of this gaudy tower 
Grows dim around me — death is near. 
I had not thought, until this hour 
When passi?tg from the earth, that ear 
Of any, were it not the shade 
Of one whom i7t life I m.ade 
All m,ystery but a simple name, 
Might know the secret of a spirit 
Bow'd down in sorrow, and in shame. — 
Shame said^st thou ? 

Aye I did inherit 
That hatred portion, with the fame, 
The worldly glory, which has shown 
A demon-light around my throne. 
Scorching my sear'd heart with a pain 
Not Hell shall make me fear again. 



13 Know: i%a^{i83i). 



TAMERLANE 3 

The undying voice of that dead time, 

With its interminable chime, 

Rings, in the spirit of a spell, 25 

Upon thy emptiness — a knell. 

I have not always been as now : 
The fever'd diadem on my brow 

I claim'd and won usurpingly — 
Hath not the same fierce heirdom given 30 

Rome to the Caesar — this to me ? 
The heritage of a kingly mind. 
And a proud spirit which hath striven 
Triumphantly with human kind. 

On mountain soil I first drew life : 35 

The mists of the Taglay have shed 

Nightly their dews upon my head, 
And, I believe, the winged strife 



III. 
I have not always been as now — 
The fever'd diadem on my brow 
I claim'd and won usurpingly — 
Aye — the same heritage hath giv'n 
Rome to the Cssar — this to me ; 
The heirdom of a kingly mind — 
And a proud spirit, which hath striv'n 
Triumphantly with human kind. 

In mountain air I first drew life ; 
The mists of the Taglay have shed 
Nightly their dews on my yonng head ; 
And my brain drank their venom the?i, 
Wheti after day of perilous strife 



After this line, 1831 inserts : 

Despair, the fabled vampire bat. 
Hath long upon my bosom sat. 
And I -would rave, bnt that he flings 
A cabnfrom his unearthly wings. 

fierce : Omitted in 1831. 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

And tumult of the headlong air 

Have nestled in my very hair. 40 

So late from Heaven — that dew — it fell 

('Mid dreams of an unholy night) 
Upon me with the touch of Hell, 

While the red flashing of the light 
From clouds that hung, like banners, o'er, 45 

xlppeared to my half-closing eye 

The pageantr}' of monarchy, 
And the deep trumpet-thunder's roar 

Came hurriedly upon me, telling 

Of human battle, where my voice, 50 

My own voice, silly child ! was swelling 
(O ! how my spirit would rejoice, 
And leap within me at the cry) 
The battle-cry of Victory ! 



tfli/i chamois, I would seize kis den 
And slumber, in my pride ofpoiver, 
The infant monarch of the hour — 
For, with the mountain dew by night, 
My soul imbib'd unhallowed feelitig ; 
And I would feel its essence stealing 
In dreams upon me — while the Hght 
Flashing/ww cloud that hovered o'er. 
Would seem to my half closing eye 
The pageantT)' of monarchy ! 
And the deep thunder's echoing roar 
Came hurriedly upon me, telling 
Of 'tvar, and tumult, where my voice 
My own voice, silly child ! was swelling 
(O how would my wild heart rejoice 
And leap within me at the cry) 
The battle-cr}^ of victorj^ ! 



40 Have: hath {.Yankee, 1831). 

42 an: one (Yankee). 

46 Appeared: Seemed then {Yankee). 

50 where my voice : near me swelling ( Yankee). 



TAMERLANE 5 

The rain came down upon my head 55 

Unshelter'd — and the heavy wind 

Rendered me mad and deaf and blind. 
It was but man, I thought, who shed 
Laurels upon me : and the rush. 

The torrent of the chilly air 60 

Gurgled within my ear the crush 

Of empires — with the captive's prayer — 
The hum of suitors — and the tone 
Of flattery round a sovereign's throne. 

My passions, from that hapless hour, 65 

Usurp 'd a tyranny which men 



IV. 
The rain came down upon my head 60 

But barely sheltered — and the wind 
Pass'd quickly o'er me — but my mind 
Was mad^ning — for 'twas man thai shed 
Laurels upon me — and the rush, 

The torrent of the chilly air 65 

Gurgled in my pleas'd ear the c?-ask 
Of empires, with the captive's prayer, 
The hum of suitors, the niix'd tone 
Of fiatt'ry round a sov'reign's throne. 

The storm had ceas''d — and I awoke — 70 

Its spirit cradled me to sleep, 
And as it passed me by, there broke 
Strange light upon me, tho' it were 
My soul in mystery' to sleep : 
For I was not as I had been ; 75 

The child of Nature, without care, 

Or thought, save of the passing scene. — 

V. 
My passions, from that hapless hour, 
Usurp'd a tyranny, which men 



57 Was giantlike — so thou, my mind! ( Yafikee, 1829, 1831). 
64 sovereign's throne : sovereign-throne (^Yankee). 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Have deem'd, since I have reach'd to power, 
My innate nature — be it so : 
But, father, there liv'd one who, then. 
Then — in my boyhood — when their fire 70 

Burn'd with a still intenser glow 
(For passion must, with youth, expire) 
E'en then who knew this iron heart 
In woman's weakness had a part. 

I have no words — alas ! — to tell 75 

The loveliness of loving well ! 



Have deem'd, since I have reach'd to power 
My innate nature — be it so : 
But, father, there hv'd one who, then — 
Then, in my boyhood, when their fire 
Burn'd with a still intenser glow ; 
(For passion must with youth expire) 
Ev'n then, who deem'd this iron heart 
In woman's weakness had a part. 

I have no words, alas ! to tell 
The lovliness of loving well ! 



73 this iron heart : that as infinite (1831). 

74 Aly sonl — so was the weakness in it (1831). After this Hne, 1831. 

inserts the following (subsequently used as a part of The Lake : To ) : 

For in those days it was my lot Yet that terror was not fright — 

To haunt of the wide world a spot But a tremtilous delight — 

The which I could not love the less. A feeling not the jewelVd mine 

So lovely was the loneliness Could ever bribe me to define, 

Of a wild lake with black rock bound, A^or love, Ada! tho' it were thine. 

Andthesulta7t-likepinesthattozver'daround! How could I from that water bring 
But when the night had thrown her pall Solace to my imagining? 
Upon that spot as upon all. My solitary sotil — how make 

And the black wind murmur' d by, An Edett of that dim lake ? 

In a dirge of melody ; 

My infant spirit would awake But then a gentler, calmer spell, 

To the terror of that lone lake. Like moonlight on my spirit fell. 

75 A7id Oil have no words to tell (1831). 



TAMERLANE 7 

Nor would I now attempt to trace 

The more than beauty of a face 

Whose lineaments, upon my mind, 

Are — shadows on th' unstable wind : 80 

Thus I remember having dwelt 

Some page of early lore upon, 
With loitei-ing eye, till I have felt 
The letters — with their meaning — melt 

To fantasies — with none. 85 

O, she was worthy of all love ! 

Love — as in infancy was mine — 



Nor would I dare attempt to trace 
The breathing beauty of a face, 
Which ev'n to my impassion'' d mind, 
Leaves not its tneinory behind. 
In spring of life have ye ne'er dwelt 
Some object of delight upon. 
With steadfast eye, till ye have felt 
The earth reel — a7id the vision gone ? 
Afid I have held to tnem'ry's eye 
One object — atid but one — tmtil 
Its vejy form hath passed me by, 
But left its influence with me still. 

VI. 

' Tis not to thee that I should name — 
TTiou can'st ttot — would'' st not dare to think 
The magic empire of a flame 
Which ev'ft upon this perilous brink 
Hathfix'd ?ny soul, iho' unforgiv'n 
By what it lost for passion — Heavht. 
I lov'd — a7id 0, hoiu tenderly ! 
Yes ! she worthy of all love ! 
Such as in infancy was mine 



77 Nor would I : I will not (1831). 82 Some page : Pages (1831). 

81 Thus I : I well (1831). 86 O, she was : Was she not (1831). 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

'T was such as angel minds above 

Might en\y ; her young heart the shrine 
On which my every hope and thought 
Were incense — then a goodly gift, 
For they were childish and upright — 
Pure — as her young example taught : 
WTiy did I leave it, and, adrift, 
Trust to the fire within, for light ? 

We grew in age — and love — together — 
Roaming the forest and the wild ; 

My breast her shield in -wintr)^ weather — 
And, when the friendly sunshine srtul'd, 

And she would mark the opening skies, 

/ saw no Heaven — but in her eyes. 

Yovmg Love's first lesson is — ■ the heart : 
For 'mid that sunshine and those smiles. 



TTio'' then its passion could not be : 
'Twas such as angel minds above 
Might en\y — her young heart the shrine 
On which my ev'ry hope and thought 
Were incense — then a goodly gift — 
For they were childish, without sin. 
Pure as her young examples taught ; 
Why did I leave it and adrift. 
Trust to xht. fickle star within 

VII. 
We grew in age, and love together, 
Roaming the forest and the wild ; 
My breast her shield in wintry weather. 
And when the friendly sunshine smil'd 
And she would mark the op'ning skies, 
I saw no Heav'n, but in her eyes — 
E-Jn childhood knows the human heart ; 
For -when, in sunshine and in smiles, 



TAMERLANE 9 

\Mien, from our little cares apart, 

And laughing at her girlish wiles, 105 

I 'd throw me on her throbbing breast. 

And pour my spirit out in tears — 
There was no need to speak the rest — 

No need to quiet any fears 
Of her — who ask'd no reason why, no 

But turned on me her quiet eye ! 

Yet more than worthy of the love 

My spirit struggled with, and strove, 

When, on the mountair^ peak, alone, 

Ambition lent it a new tone — 115 



From all our little cares apart, 

Laughing at her half silly wiles, 

I 'd throw me on her throbbing breast, 130 

And pour my spirit out in tears, 

She \i look up in viy ■wilder' d eye — 

There was no need to speak the rest — 

No need to quiet her kind {ears — 

She did not ash the reason why. 135 

The hallo-iv'd mem'ry of those years 
Comes o^er me in these lonely hours, 
And, with sweet lovliness, appears 
As perfume of strange summer flow'rs ; 
Offlow'rs luhich we have known before 140 

In infancy, -which seen, recall 
To mind — not flow'rs alone — but more 
Our earthly life, a/id love — and all. 

VIII. 
Yes / she was worthy of all love ! 
Ev'n such as from th' accursed time 145 

My spirit with the tempest strove. 
When on the mountain peak alone, 
Ambition lent it a new tone, 



106 throw me on her throbbing: lean upon h&r gentle (1831). 
110 her : hers (1831). 
112-115 Omitted in 1831. 



10 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

I had no being — but in thee : 

The world, and all it did contain 
In the earth — the air — the sea — 

Its joy — its litde lot of pain 
That was new pleasure — the ideal, 

Dim, vanities of dreams by night — 
And dimmer nothings which were real — 

(Shadows — and a more shado\\y light !) 



And bade it first to dream of crime, 

Aly phreiizy t» her bosom taught: 

We still were young : 710 purer thought 

Lhiiell in a seraph's breast than thine; 

For passionate love is still divine : 

I lov^d her as an angel might 

Jf^th ray of the all living light 

JlTiich blazes upon £i/is' shrine. 

It is not surely sin to name, 

Jllth such as mine — that mystic fiame, 

I had no being but in thee ! 

The -world with all its train of bright 

And happy beauty (for to me 

All was an undefined delight). 

The world — its joy — its sha>-c of pain 

Which I felt not — its bodied forms 

Of varied being, which cofitain 

The bodiless spirits of the storms. 

The sunshine, and the calm — the ideal 

And fleeting vanities of dreams, 

Fearfully beautiful '. the real 

Nothings of mid-day waking life — 

Of an enchanted life, which seems, 

Aow as I look back, the strife 

Of some ill demon, with a po^uer 

Which left me in an evil hour. 

All that I felt, or saw, or thought. 



119 Of pleasure or of pain (18^1). 

120 The good, the baJ, the ideal (1831). 



TAMERLANE 1 1 

Parted upon their misty wings, 

And, so, confusedly, became 125 

Thine image and — a name — a name ! 

Two separate — yet most intimate things. 

I was ambitious — have you known 

The passion, father ? You have not : 



Crowding, confused became 

{With thine unearthly beajity fraught) 

Thou — and the nothing of di name. 

IX. 

The passionate spirit which hath knozun, 
And deeply felt the silent tone 180 

Of its own self supremacy, — 
{I speak thus opefily to thee, 
^T were folly now to veil a thought 
With which this aching, breast is f -aught) 
The soul which feels its innate right — 185 

The mystic empire and high power 
Giv'n by the energetic might 
Of Genius, at its natal hour; 
Which knows [believe me at this time. 

When falsehood wore a tenfold crime, 190 

There is a potver in the high spirit 
To know the fate it will inherit] 
The soul, which knows such power, will still 
Find Pride the ruler of its will. 

Yes ! I was proud — and ye who know 195 

The magic of that meaning word, 
So oft perverted, zvill bestow 
Your scorn, perhaps, when ye have heard 
That the proud spirit had been broken. 

The proud heart burst ifi agony 200 

At one upbraiding word or token 
Of her that heart's idolatry — 
I was ambitious — have ye known 
Its fiery passion ? — ye have not — 



128-138 Omitted in 1831. 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

A cottager, I mark'd a throne 130 

Of half the world as all my own, 

And murmur'd at such lowly lot — 
But, just like any other dream, 

Upon the vapor of the dew 
My own had past, did not the beam 135 

Of beauty which did while it thro' 
The minute — the hour — the day — oppress 
ISIy mind \\ath double loveliness. 

\^'e walk"d together on the crown 

Of a high mountain which look'd down 140 

Afar from its proud natural towers 

Of rock and forest, on the hiUs — 
The dwindled hills ! begirt \\-ith bowers 

And shoutinar with a thousand rills. 



A cottager, I mark'd a throne 
Of half the world, as all my own, 
And murmur'd at such lowly lot ! 
But it had pass' d me as a dream 
UTiich, of light step, flies with the dew. 
That kindling thought — did not the beam 
Of Beaut\% which did guide it through 
The livelong summer day, oppress 
My mind with double loveliness — 



X. 

We walk'd together on the crown 
Of a high mountain, which look'd down 
Afar from its proud natural towers 
Of rock and forest, on the hills — 
The dwindled hills, whence amid bowers 
Her ou<nfair hand had rear'd around, 
Gush'd shoutingly a thousand rills, 
Which as it were, in fairy bound 
Embraced two hamlets — those our own — 
Peacefully happy — yet alone — 



TAMERLANE 13 

I spoke to her of power and pride, 145 

But mystically — in such guise 
That she might deem it nought beside 

The moment's converse ; in her eyes 
I read, perhaps too carelessly, 

A mingled feeling with my own — 1 50 

The flush on her bright cheek, to me 

Seem'd to become a queenly throne 
Too well that I should let it be 

Light in the wilderness alone. 



I spoke to her of power and pride — 
But mystically, in such guise, 225 

That she might deem it naught beside 
The moment's converse, in her eyes 
I read [perhaps too carelessly] 
A mingled feeling with my own ; 

The flush on her bright cheek, to me, 230 

Seem'd to become a queenly throne 
Too well, that I should let it be 
A light in the dark zuilJ, alone. 

XI. 

The?-e — /;/ Ihat hour — a thought came o'er 
My mind, it had not known before — 235 

To leave her while we both were yoting, — 
To folloii) my high fate amo7ig 
The strife ofnatiotis, and redeem 
The idle words, which, as a dream 

N'ow sounded to her heedless ear — 240 

I held no doicbt — I knew no fear 
Of peril in my wild career; 
To gain an empire, and throzu down 
As miptial dowry — a queen's crown 

The only feeling ivhich possest, 245 

With her own image, my fond breast — 



151 on her bright : upon her (1831). 

152 to become : fitted for (1831). 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

I wrapp'd myself in grandeur then 
And donn'd a visionary crown — 
Yet it was not that Fantasy 
Had thrown her mantle over me — 
But that, among the rabble — men, 
Lion ambition is chain 'd down — 
And crouches to a keeper's hand — 
Not so in deserts where the grand — 
The wild — the terrible conspire 
With their own breath to fan his fire. 



Who, that had known the secret thought 
Of a young peasant' s bosom ihett. 
Had deeni'd him, in compassion, aught 
But one, whom phantasy had led 
Astray fro7n reason — Among men 
Ambition is chain'd down — nor fed 
\^As in the deseH, where the grand, 
The wild, the beautiful, conspire 
With their own breath to fan its fire] 
With thoughts such feeling can command; 
Unchecked by sarcasm, and scorn 
Of those, who hardly will conceive 
That any should become ^^ great," bom 
In their own sphere — ivill not believe 
That they shall stoop in life to one 
Who77i daily they are wottt to see 
Familiarly — whom Fortune's sun 
Hath ne'er shone dazzlingly upon 
Lowly — atid of their own degree — 

XII. 

I pictur'd to my fancy's eye 
Her silent, deep astonishfneni. 
When, a few feeling years gone by, 
{For short the time my high hope lent 
To its most desperate intent,) 
She might recall in him, whom Fame 
Had gilded with a conqueror's name. 



164 his: its (1831). 



TAMERLANE 

{With glory — stick as might inspire 
Perforce., a passing thought of one. 
Whom she had deem'd in his own fire 
Wither' d and blasted ; who had gone 
A traitor, violate of the truth 
So plighted in his early youth,) 
Her own Alexis, -who should plight 
The love he plighted then — again. 
And raise his itifancy's delight. 
The bride and queen of Tamerlane — 

XIII. 

Ojie noon of a bright summer's day 
I passed from out the matted bow'r 
Where in a deep, still slumber lay 
My Ada. Itt that peaceful hour, 
A silettt gaze was my farewell. 
I had no other solace — theji 
7"' azoake her, and a falsehood tell 
Of a feigned jou7mey, we7-e again 
To t)-ust the weakness of my heart 
To her soft thrilling voice : To part 
Thus, haply, while in sleep she drea?n'd 
Of long delight, nor yet had deem'd 
Awake, that I had held a thought 
Of parting, were with madness f-aught ; 
I knew not woman'' s heart, alas ! 
Tho' lov'd, and loving — let it pass. — 

XIV. 

I zvent from out the matted bow'r. 
And hurried madly on my ivay : 
And felt, with ev'ry fiying hour. 
That bore me f-om my home, more gay ; 
There is of earth ati agofiy 
Which, ideal, still may be 
The worst ill of mortality. 
Tis bliss, in its ow7i reality. 
Too real, to his breast who lives 
Not within himself but gives 
A portion of his willing soul 
To God, and to the great whole — 
To him, whose loving spirit will dwell 
With Nature, in her wild paths ; tell 



1 6 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Look round thee now on Samarcand ! — 
Is she not queen of Earth ? her pride 
Above all cities ? in her hand 

Their destinies ? in all beside 
Of glory which the world hath known 
Stands she not nobly and alone ? 
Falling — her veriest stepping-stone 
Shall form the pedestal of a throne — 



Of her wond'rous ways, and telling bless 

Her overpoiiPring loveliness ! 

A more than agony to him 

Whose failing sight will grow dim. 

With its own livijig gaze upon 

That loveliness aroinid : the sun — 

The blue sky — the misty light 

Of the pale cloud therein, whose hue 

Is grace to its heav^7ily bed of blue ; 

Dim ! tho' looking on all bright ! 

O God ! when the thoughts that may not pass 

Will burst upon him, and alas ! 

For the flight on Earth to Fancy giv'n, 

There are no words — unless of Heav'ji. 

XV. 

Look 'round thee now on Samarcand, 
Is she not queen of earth ? her pride 
Above all cities ? in her hand 
Their destinies ? with all beside 
Of glory, which the world hath known ? 
Stands she not p7vudly and alone ? 



165-176 For these lines, 1831 substitutes the following : 

Say, holy father, breathes there yet 

A rebel or a Bajazet ? 

ITow now I why tremble, man of gloom ^ 

As if my words were the Simoom ! 

Why do the people bo-iv the knee. 

To the young Tanierlane — to me! 



TAMERLANE 

And who her sovereign ? Timour — he 
Whom the astonished people saw 

Striding o'er empires haughtily 
A diadem'd outlaw ! 



And who her sov'reign ? Timur he 

Whom th' astonish'd earth hath seen, 

With victory, on victory. 

Redoubling age ! and more, I ween. 

The Zinghis^ yet re-echoing fame. 

And nozu what has he ? what ! a nam.e. 

The sou7td of revelry by night 

Comes (sVr me, with the mingled voice 

Of many with a breast as light. 

As if V were not the dying hour 

Of one, i7i whom they did rejoice — 

As in a leader, haply — Power 

Its venom secretly imparts ; 

Nothing have I zvith human hearts. 

XVI. 

When Fortu7ie marked me for her ozvn, 
And my proud hopes had reached a throne 
[/t boots me not, good friar, to tell 
A tale the zaorld but knows to well. 
How by what hidden deeds of might 
I clamber'd to the tottering height,} 



175 



O, human love ! thou spirit given, 

On Earth, of all we hope in Heaven ! 

Which fall'st into the soul like rain 

Upon the Siroc-wither'd plain, ' 180 

And, failing in thy power to bless. 

But leav'st the heart a wilderness ! 

Idea 1 which bindest life around 

With music of so strange a sound 

And beauty of so wild a birth — 185 

Farewell ! for I have won the Earth. 



335 



345 



181 in: ^/(i83i). 



1 8 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

When Hope, the eagle that tower'd, could see 

No cliff beyond him in the sky. 
His pinions were bent droopingly — 

And homeward turn'd his soften 'd eye. 190 

'T was sunset : when the sun will part 
There comes a sullenness of heart 
To him who still would look upon 
The glor)' of the summer sun. 

That soul will hate the ev'ning mist 195 

So often lovely, and will list 
To the sound of the coming darkness (^known 
To those whose spirits harken) as one 
Who, in a dream of night, wouhl fly 
But cannot from a danger nigh. 200 



/ still was voting ; and well I ween 

My spirit what it e'er had been. 

My eyes were still on pomp and po^ver, 355 

My zvilder'd heart was/ar azcay, 

In vailies of the zvild Taglay, 

In mine o^cn Ada's matted bo7i>'r. 

I dwelt not long in Samarcand 

Ere, in a peasant's lozvly guise, 360 

I sought my long-abandon'd land. 

By sunset did its mountains rise 

In dusky grandeur to my eyes : 

But as 1 7vander'd on the way 

My heart sunk with the sun's ray. 365 

To him, who still would gaze upon 

The glory of the summer sun. 

There comes, when that sun willy>j'w him part, 

A sullen hopelessness of heart. 

That soul will hate the ev'ning mist 370 

So often lovely, and will lisp 

To the sound of the coming darkness [known 

To those whose spirits hark'n] as one 

Who in a dream of night would fly 

But cannot from a danger nigh. 375 



194 the : that (1831). 



TAMERLANE 19 

What tho' the moon — the white moon — 

Shed all the splendor of her noon, 

Her smile is chilly — and her beam, 

In that time of dreariness, will seem 

(So like you gather in your breath) 205 

A portrait taken after death. 

And boyhood is a summer sun 

Whose waning is the dreariest one. 

For all we live to know is known, 

And all we seek to keep hath flown. 210 

Let life, then, as the day-flower, fall 

With the noon-day beauty — which is all. 

I reach'd my home — my home no more — 
For all had flown who made it so. 



What though the moon — the silvery moon 

Shine on kis path, i7t her high noon ; 

Her smile is chilly, and her beam 

In that time of dreariness will seem 

As the portrait of one after death ; 380 

A likeness taken tohen the breath 

Of yonng life, atid the f re 0' the eye. 

Had lately been but had passed by. 

'Tis thus when the lovely summer sun 

Of our boyhood, his course hath run : 385 

For all we live to know — is known ; 

And all we seek to keep — hath flown; 

With the noon-day beauty, which is all. 

Let life, tKen, as the day-flow'r, fall — 

The tranciettt, passionate day-flower, 390 

Withering at the evening hour. 

XVII. 
I reach'd my home — my home no more — 
For all was flown that made it so — 



202 splendor: beauty (1831). 207-212 Omitted in 1831. 

213-221 For these lines, 1831 substitutes the following : 

I reach'd my home — what home} above^ Lonely, like me, the desert rose. 
My home — my hope — my early love, Bow'' d down with its own glory grows. 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

I pass'd from out its mossy door, 215 

And, tho' my tread was soft and low, 
A voice came from the threshold stone 
Of one whom I had earlier known — 

O, I defy thee. Hell, to show 

On beds of fire that burn below, 220 

An humbler heart — a deeper wo. 



Father, I firmly do believe — 

I kno-u' — for Death who comes for me 
From regions of the blest afar, 
Where there is nothing to deceive, 
Hath left his iron gate ajar. 
And rays of truth you cannot see 
Are flashing thro' Etemit)' — 
I do believe that Eblis hath 
A snare in every human path — 
Else how', when in the holy grove 
I w^andered of the idol. Love, 
Who daily scents his snowy w'ings 
With incense of burnt offerings 



I pass'd from out its mossy door. 
In 7'(7Ciirit iJUness of7c<Oi-. 
There met me on its threshold stone 
A mountain hunter, I had known 
In childhood but he kne^v me not. 
Something he sfoke of the old cot : 
It had seen better days, he said ; 
There rose a fountain once, and there 
Full many afairflo^v'r raised its head: 
But she 7i'ho rear'd them ivaj long dead. 
And in such follies had no part, 
Mltat tvas there left me now ? despair — 
A kingdom for a broken — heart. 



SONG 21 

From the most unpolluted things, 235 

Whose pleasant bowers are yet so riven 

Above with trellis'd rays from Heaven 

No mote may shun — no tiniest fly — 

The light'ning of his eagle eye — 

How was it that Ambition crept, 240 

Unseen, amid the revels there. 
Till growing bold, he laughed and leapt 

In the tangles of Love's very hair ? 

(1827) 

SONG 

I saw thee on thy bridal day. 

When a burning blush came o'er thee, 
Though happiness around thee lay. 

The world all love before thee : 



235 unpolluted : undefiled ( Yankee, 1831). 

243 very: brilliant {Yankee). After this line, 1831 adds the following 
lines (which are an imperfect draft of A Dream within a Drea?!i) : 

If my peace hath flow)i aivay 
In a flight — or in a day — 
Itt a vision — or in none — 
Is it., therefore, the less gone ? 
I was standing ^mid the roar 
Of a wind-beaten shore. 
And I held withiji my hand 
Some particles of sand — 
IIo7v bright ! And yet to creep 
Thro' my fingers to the deep I 
My early hopes ? no — they 
Wetit gloriously aivay. 
Like light7iiiig f-07}i the sky — ■ 
l\'liy in the battle did not I? 

Title To (1827, 1829). 

1 thy: the (1827). 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

And in thine eye a kindling light 

(Whatever it might be) 
Was all on Earth my aching sight 

Of Loveliness could see. 

That blush, perhaps, was maiden shame — 

As such it well may pass — 
Though its glow hath raised a fiercer flame 

In the breast of him, alas ! 

Who saw thee on that bridal day, 

When that deep blush would come o'er thee, 
Though happiness around thee lay, 

The world all love before thee. 

(1827) 

DREAMS 

Oh ! that my young life were a lasting dream ! 

My spirit not awak'ning till the beam 

Of an Eternity should bring the morrow. 

Yes ! tho' that long dream were of hopeless sorrow, 

'T were better than the cold reality 

Of waking life, to him whose heart must be, 

And hath been still, upon the lovely earth, 

A chaos of deep passion, from his birth. 

But should it be — that dream eternally 

Continuing — as dreams have been to me 

In my young boyhood — should it thus be giv'n, 

'T were folly still to hope for higher Heav'n. 

For I have revell'd, when the sun was bright 

I' the summer sky, in dreams of living light 



h 2i: the (1827). 8 could: might (1827). 

6 Of young passion free (1827). 9 perhaps: I ween (1827). 

7 aching: chained [1^2^), fetter' d {i82g). 13 thee: the (\Svj). 



SPIRITS OF THE DEAD 23 

And loveliness, — have left my very heart 15 

In climes of mine imagining, apart 

From mine own home, with beings that have been 

Of mine own thought — what more could I have seen ? 

'T was once — and only once — and the wild hour 

From my remembrance shall not pass — some pow'r 20 

Or spell had bound me — 't was the chilly wind 

Came o'er me in the night, and left behind 

Its image on my spirit — or the moon 

Shone on my slumbers in her lofty noon 

Too coldly — or the stars — howe'er it was, 25 

That dream was as that night-wind — let it pass. 

I have been happy, tho' [but] in a dream. 

I have been happy — and I love the theme : 

Dreams ! in their vivid coloring of life, 

As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife 30 

Of semblance with reality which brings 

To the delirious eye, more lovely things 

Of Paradise and Love — and all our own ! 

Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known. 

(1827) 

SPIRITS OF THE DEAD 
I. 
Thy soul shall find itself alone 
'Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstone — 
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry 
Into thine hour of secrecy. 

II. 
Be silent in that solitude, 5 

Which is not loneliness — for then 



Title Visit of the Dead (1827). 

2 Alone of all on earth — unknown (1827). 

3 The cause — but none are near to pry (1827). 



24 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

The spirits of the dead who stood 

In life before thee are again 
In death around thee — and their will 
Shall overshadow thee : be still. 

in. 

The night, tho' clear, shall frown — 
And the stars shall look not down 
From their high thrones in the heaven, 
With light like Hope to mortals given — 
But their red orbs, without beam. 
To thy weariness shall seem 
As a burning and a fever 
Which would cling to thee for ever. 

IV. 
Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish, 
Now are visions ne'er to vanish ; 
From thy spirit shall they pass 
No more — like dew-drop from the grass. 

V. 

The breeze — the breath of God — is still — 
And the mist upon the hill. 



10 overshadow: then o'ershadow (1827). 

11 The: For^h.^ (1827). 

13 From their thrones, in the dark heav'n (1827). 

16 weariness: tvithering heart {\^i*i). 

17 fever : ferver (1827). 

19 BtU Hivill leave thee, as each star (1827). 

20 In the morning light afar (1827). 

21 Will fly thee — rt«^ vanish (1827). 

22 Bnt its thought thou can'st not banish (1827). 

23 The breath of God %vill be still (1827). 

24 mist: wish {1827). 



EVENING STAR 25 

Shadowy — shadowy — yet unbroken, 25 

Is a symbol and a token — 
How it hangs upon the trees, 
A mystery of mysteries ! 

(1827) 

EVENING STAR 

'T was noontide of summer. 

And mid-time of night ; 
And stars, in their orbits, 

Shone pale, thro' the light 
' Of the brighter, cold moon, S 

'Mid planets her slaves. 
Herself in the Heavens, 

Her beam on the waves. 

I gaz'd a while 

On her cold smile ; 10 

Too cold — too cold for me. 

There pass'd, as a shroud, 

A fleecy cloud, 
And I tum'd away to thee. 

Proud Evening Star, 15 

In thy glory afar. 
And dearer thy beam shall be ; 

For joy to my heart 

Is the proud part 
Thou bearest in Heav'n at night, 20 

And more I admire 

Thy distant fire 
Than that colder, lowly light. 

(1827) 

25 By that summer breeze unbrok'n (1827). 

26 Shall charm thee — as a token (1827). 

27 And a symbol -luhich shall be (1827). 

28 Secrecy in thee (1827). 



26 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM 



Take this kiss upon the brow ! 
And, in parting from you now, 
Thus much let me avow : 
You are not wrong, who deem 
That my days have been a dream : 
Yet if Hope has flown away 
In a night, or in a day. 
In a vision, or in none, 
Is it therefore the less go fie ? 



The texts of 1827 and 1829 differ radically from the text of 1S49, ^'^^ 
hence are reproduced here in their entirety. The variants of the Yankee 
and 1831 are given at the foot of the page. 



Imitation (1827) 

A dark tinfathorn'd tide 
Of interminable pride — 
A mystery, and a dream, 
Shotcld my early life seem ; 
I say that dream zvas fratight 
With a wild, and waking thought 
Of beings that have been. 
Which my spirit hath not seen. 
Had I let them pass me by. 



To 



(1829) 



Should 7ny early life seem, 

\^As well it mighty a dream — 

Yet I build no faith upon 

The king Napoleon — 

/ look not up afar 

For my destiny in a star : 

2. 
In parting from you now 
Thus much / will avow — 
There are beings, and have been 
Whom my spirit had not seen 
Had I let them pass me by 
With a dreaming eye — 
If my peace hath fled away 
In a night — or in a day — 
In a vision — or in none — 
Is it therefore the less gone ? — 



Title Omitted in Yankee and in 1831 (where the poem is appended to 
Tamerlane), both these texts being fragmentary. 
1-5 Omitted in Yankee and 1831. 
6 Yet if Hope has : If my peace hath ( Yankee, 1831). 



A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM 27 

All that we see or seem 10 

Is but a dream within a dream. 



I stand amid the roar 
Of a surf-tormented shore, 
And I hold within my hand 
Grains of the golden sand — 
How few ! yet how they creep 
Through my fingers to the deep, 
While I weep — while I weep ! 
O God ! can I not grasp 
Them with a tighter clasp ? 



With a dreami7ig eye ! lo 3- 

Let none of earth inherit I am standing 'mid the roar 

That vision on my spirit ; Of a weather-beaten shore, 

Tliose thoughts I would controul, And I hold within my hand 

As a spell upon his soul : Some particles of sand — 

For that bright hope at last 15 How few! and how they creep 

A7td that light time have past, Thro' my fingers to the deep ! 

And my worldly rest hath gone My early hopes ? no — they 

With a sight as it pass'' d on : Went gloriously away, 

I care not tho' it perish Like lightning from the sky 

With a thought I then did cherish. 20 At once — and so will I. 



10, 11 Omitted in Yankee and 1831. 

12 stand : am standittg ( Yaftkee), zvas standing (1831). 

13 surf-tormented : weatherbeaten ( Yankee)^ wind-beaten (1831). 

14 hold : held (1831). 

15 Some particles of sand {Ya7ikee, 1831). 

16 yet: and (Yankee) ; How bright! And y&t to creep (1831). 
18-24 Yankee substitutes the following : 

My early hopes ? — A^o — they 
Went gloriously away. 
Like lightning from the sky 
At once — and so will L. 

1831 makes the same substitution, except that for the last of these four 
lines, it reads : 

Why in the battle did not I? 



28 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

O God 1 can I not save 
One from the pitiless wave ? 
Is all that we see or seem 
But a dream within a dream ? 

(1827) 

STANZAS 

How often we forget all time, when lone 

Admiring Nature's universal throne ; 

Her woods — her wilds — her mountains — the intense 

Reply of HERS to our intelligence ! 



In youth have I known one with whom the Earth, 
In secret, communing held — as he with it, 
In daylight, and in beauty from his birth : 
Whose fervid, flick'ring torch of life was lit 
From the sun and stars, whence he had drawn forth 
A passionate light — such for his spirit was fit — 
And yet that spirit knew not — in the hour 
Of its own fervor — what had o'er it power. 



4- 
So young I ah! no — not now — 
Thou hast not seen my brow. 
But they tell thee I am proud — 
They lie — they lie aloud — 
My bosom beats with shame 
At the paltriness of name 
With which they dare combine 
A feeling such as mine — 
Nor Stoic ? I am not : 
In the terror of my lot 
I laugh to think how poor 
That pleasure " to endure ! " 
What ! shade of Zeno I — // 
Endu re ! — no — no — defy. 



Title Omitted in 1827. 



STANZAS 29 



Perhaps it may be that my mind is wrought 
To a fever by the moonbeam that hangs o'er, 
But I will half believe that wild light fraught. 
With more of sov'reignty than ancient lore 
Hath ever told — or is it of a thought 
The unembodied essence, and no more, 
That with a quick'ning spell doth o'er us pass 
As dew of the night-time, o'er the summer grass ? 



Doth o'er us pass, when, as th' expanding eye 
To the lov'd object — so the tear to the lid 
Will start, which lately slept in apathy ? 
And yet it need not be — that object — hid 
From us in life — ■ but common — which doth lie 
Each hour before us — but then only, bid 
With a strange sound, as of a harp-string broken, 
T' awake us — 'T is a symbol and a token 



Of what in other worlds shall be — and giv'n 25 

In beauty by our God, to those alone 

Who otherwise would fall from life and Heav'n, 

Drawn by their heart's passion, and that tone. 

That high tone of the spirit which hath striv'n, 

Tho' not with Faith — with godliness — whose throne 30 

With desp'rate energy 't hath beaten down ; 

Wearing its own deep feeling as a crown. 

(1827) 



10 fever : feiver (li 



30 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

A DREAM 

In visions of the dark night 

I have dreamed of joy departed, 

But a waking dream of life and light 
Hath left me broken-hearted. 



Ah 1 what is not a dream by day 

To him whose eyes are cast 
On things around him with a ray 

Turned back upon the past ? 

That holy dream — that holy dream, 
While all the world were chiding, 

Hath cheered me as a lovely beam 
A lonely spirit guiding. 

What though that light, thro' storm and night. 

So trembled from afar. 
What could there be more purely bright 

In Truth's day-star ? 

(1827) 



Title Omitted in 1827. 

1 1827 prefixes the following stanza : 



A u'ilde)-\i being from my birth 
My spirit spnni'J control, 

But now, abroad on the wide earth, 
Wiere zcand'rest thou any soul? 



5 Ah: And (1827, 1829). 

13 storm and : misty (1827). 

14 trembled from: dimly shone (1827). 



THE HAPPIEST DAY, THE HAPPIEST HOUR" 31 

"THE HAPPIEST DAY, THE HAPPIEST HOUR" 

The happiest day, the happiest hour 

My sear'd and blighted heart hath known, 

The highest hope of pride and power, 
I feel hath fiown. 

Of power 1 said I ? yes I such I ween ; 5 

But they have vanish'd long, alas ! 
The visions of my youth have been — 

But let them pass. 

And, pride, what have I now with thee ? 

Another brow may ev'n inherit 10 

The venom thou hast pour'd on me — 

Be still, my spirit I 

The happiest day, the happiest hour 
Mine eyes shall see, have ever seen. 

The brightest glance of pride and power, 15 

I feel — have been : 

But were that hope of pride and power 

Now offer'd, with the pain 
Ev'n then I felt — that brightest hour 

I would not live again : 20 

For on its wing was dark alloy. 

And as it flutter'd, fell 
An essence — powerful to destroy 

A soul that knew it well. 

(1827) 



Title Omitted in 1827. 



32 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

THE LAKE: TO 

In spring of youth it was my lot 
To haunt of the wide world a spot 
The which I could not love the less — 
So lovely was the loneliness 
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound, 
And the tall pines that towered around. 

But when the Night had thrown her pall 

Upon that spot, as upon all, 

And the mystic wind went by 

Murmuring in melody. 

Then — ah, then — I would awake 

To the terror of the lone lake. 

Yet that terror was not fright, 

But a tremulous delight — 

A feeling not the jewelled mine 

Could teach or bribe me to define — 

Nor Love — although the Love were thine. 



Title The Lake (1827) ; omitted in 1831, the poem being incorporated 
in Tamerlane (after 1. 74). 

1 In spring of youth: In yotiMs spring (1827, 1829, M.M.), Form those 
days (1831). 

2 world: earth (1827). 

6 tall: sultan-like (1831). 

9 mystic wind went: wind would pass me (1827), black wind munniir\l 
(1829, 1831), ghastly wind went {M.M.). 

10 Murmuring in : In its stilly (1827), In a dirge of (1829, 1831), In a 
dirge-like {M.M.). 

11 Then — ah, then, I : My infant spirit (1827, 1829, 1831). 

12 the lone : that lone (1831, M.M.). 

15 And a feeling tindejin'd (1827). 

16 Could teach or : Should ever (1829), Could ez>er (1831). 
16, 17 Springing from a ^darken'd mind (1827). 

17 were : be (1829) ; although the love : Ada 1 tho' it (1831). 



SONNET — TO SCIENCE 33 

Death was in that poisonous wave, 

And in its gulf a fitting grave 

For him who thence could solace bring 20 

To his lone imagining, 

Whose solitary soul could make 

An Eden of that dim lake. 

(1827) 



SONNET — TO SCIENCE 

Science ! true daughter of Old Time thou art ! 

Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes. 
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart, 

Vulture, whose wings are dull realities ? 
How should he love thee ? or how deem thee wise. 

Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering 
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies, 

Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing ? 
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car, 

And driven the Hamadryad from the wood 



18 poisonous: poison' d (1827, 1829, M.M.). 
18, 19 Omitted in 1831. 

20 Hoiu could I from that water bring (1831). 

21 lone: dark (1827) ; Solace to my imagining (1831). 

22 Whose -wild'ring thought could even make (1827) ; My solitary soul 
— how make (1831). 

Title Omitted in 1829, in 1831 (where the poem serves as a prelude to Al 
Aaraaf), and in Graham's (where it is prefixed to The Islatid of the Fay). 
Entitled simply " Sonnet " in S. E. P., Casket, S. L. M. 

1 true: meet (1829. S.E.P., Casket, 1831, S.L.M.). 

2 peering: p/erc//!o- {S.E. P., Casket). 

3 the: t/iy (S.E.P., Casket). 

5 should: shall [S.E.P., Casket). 

8 soared : soar (1829, S.E.P., Casket, 1831, S.L.M.) ; he: de {Graham's). 



34 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

To seek a shelter in some happier star ? 

Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood, 
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me 
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree ? 



(1829) 



AL AARAAF 

Part I 

O ! NOTHING earthly save the ray 

(Thrown back from flowers) of Beauty's eye, 

As in those gardens where the day 

Springs from the gems of Circassy — 

O ! nothing earthly save the thrill 

Of melody in woodland rill — 

Or (music of the passion-hearted) 

Joy's voice so peacefully departed 

That, like the murmur in the shell. 

Its echo dwelleth and will dwell — 



11 Hast thou not spoilt a story in each star? {Graham's) ; a : for {S. E. P., 
Casket). 

12 The gentle Naiad from \iex fountain flood (1829, 1831, S.L.M.); The 
gentle JVais from the fotintain flood {S.E.F., Casket). 

13 green grass: greenwood {S.E.P., Casket) ; The elfin from the grass? 
the dainty fay {Graham's). 

14 summer: sujumer's {S.E.P., Casket); tamarind tree : shrubbery (z^t^, 
S.E.P., Casket, 1831, S.L.M.) ; The -witch, the sprite, the goblin — luhere are 
they "f (Graham'' s). 

1-15 For these Hnes, 1831 substitutes the following : 
Mysterious star! 
Thou wert my drea77i 
All a long summer night — 
Be now my theme I 
By this clear stream. 
Of thee will I write ; 
Meantime from afar 
Bathe me in light ! 



AL AARAAF 35 

Oh, nothing of the dross of ours — 

Yet all the beauty — all the flowers 

That list our Love, and deck our bowers — 

Adorn yon world afar, afar — 

The wandering star. 15 

'T was a sweet time for Nesace — for there 
Her world lay lolling on the golden air, 
Near four bright suns — a temporary rest — 
An oasis in desert of the blest. 

Away — away — 'mid seas of rays that roll 20 

Empyrean splendor o'er th' unchained soul — 
The soul that scarce (the billows are so dense) 
Can struggle to its destin'd eminence — 



Thy li'orld has not the dross of ours, 
Yet all the beauty — all the flowers 
That list our love, or deck our bowers 
In dreamy gardetis, -where do lie 
Dreamy maideiis all the day. 
While the silver wiitds of Circassy 
On violet couches faint away 

Little — oh ! little dwells in thee 
Like unto what on earth we see : 
Beauty^s eye is here the bhiest 
In the falsest and ttntmest — 
On the sweetest air doth float 
The most sad and solemn note — 
If with thee be broketi hearts, 
foy so peacefully depaiis. 
That its echo still doth dwell. 
Like the murmur in the shell. 
Thou ! thy tniest type of grief 
Is the gently falling leaf — 
Thou ! thy framing is so holy 
Sorrow is not melancholy, 

11 Oh: With (1829). 

19 An oasis: A gardeii-spot (1829, 1831). 



36 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

To distant spheres, from time to time, she rode, 

And late to ours, the favor'd one of God — 25 

But, now, the ruler of an anchor 'd realm. 

She throws aside the sceptre — leaves the helm, 

And, amid incense and high spiritual hymns, 

Laves in quadruple light her angel limbs. 

Now happiest, loveliest in yon lovely Earth, 30 

Whence sprang the " Idea of Beauty " into birth 
(Falling in wreaths thro' many a startled star, 
Like woman's hair 'mid pearls, until, afar, 
It lit on hills Achaian, and there dwelt), 
She look'd into Infinity — and knelt. 35 

Rich clouds, for canopies, about her curled — 
Fit emblems of the model of her world — 
Seen but in beautv — not impeding sight 
Of other beauty glittering thro' the light — 
A wreath that twined each starr\- form around, 40 

And all the opal'd air in color bound. 

All hurriedly she knelt upon a bed 
Of flowers : of lilies such as rear'd the head 
On the fair Capo Deucato, and sprang 
So eagerly around about to hang 45 

ITpon the flying footsteps of — deep pride — 
Of her who lov'd a mortal — and so died. 
The Sephalica, budding with young bees, 
Uprear'd its purple stem around her knees : 
And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnam'd — 50 

Inmate of highest stars, where erst it sham'd 
All other loveliness : its honied dew 
(The fabled nectar that the heathen knew) 



43 rear'd: n-i?r {1S29, 1831). 



AL AARAAF 37 

Deliriously sweet, was dropp'd from Heaven, 

And fell on gardens of the unforgiven 55 

In Trebizond — and on a sunny flower 

So like its own above, that, to this hour, 

It still remaineth, torturing the bee 

With madness, and unwonted reverie : 

In Heaven, and all its environs, the leaf 60 

And blossom of the fairy plant, in grief 

Disconsolate linger — grief that hangs her head. 

Repenting follies that full long have fled, 

Heaving her white breast to the balmy air. 

Like guilty beauty, chasten'd, and more fair : 65 

Nyctanthes, too, as sacred as the light 

She fears to perfume, perfuming the night : 

And Clytia pondering between many a sun, 

While pettish tears adown her petals run : 

And that aspiring flower that sprang on Earth — 70 

And died, ere scarce exalted into birth. 

Bursting its odorous heart in spirit to wing 

Its way to Heaven, from garden of a king : 

And Valisnerian lotus thither flown 

From struggling with the waters of the Rhone : 75 

And thy most lovely purple perfume, Zante ! 

Isola d'oro ! — Fior di Levante ! 

And the Nelumbo bud that floats for ever 

With Indian Cupid down the holy river — 

Fair flowers, and fairy ! to whose care is given So 

To bear the Goddess' song, in odors, up to Heaven : 

" Spirit ! that dwellest where. 

In the deep sky. 
The terrible and fair, 

In beauty vie ! 85 

Beyond the line of blue — 

The boundary of the star 



38 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Which turneth at the view 

Of thy barrier and thy bar — 
Of the barrier overgone 90 

By the comets who were cast 
From their pride and from their throne, 

To be drudges till the last — 
To be carriers of fire 

(The red fire of their heart) 95 

With speed that may not tire 

And with pain that shall not part — 
Who livest — that we know — 

In Eternity — we feel — 
But the shadow of whose brow 100 

What spirit shall reveal ? 
Tho' the beings whom thy Nesace, 

Thy messenger, hath known, 
Have dream'd for thy Infinity 

A model of their own — 105 

Thy will is done, oh, God ! 

The star hath ridden high 
Thro' many a tempest, but she rode 

Beneath thy burning eye ; 
And here, in thought, to thee — no 

In thought that can alone 
Ascend thy empire and so be 

A partner of thy throne — - 
By winged Fantasy, 

My embassy is given, 115 

Till secrecy shall knowledge be 

In the environs of Heaven." 

She ceas'd — and buried then her burning cheek 
Abash'd, amid the lilies there, to seek 



Which: That {S.M.). 95 red: Omitted in 1831 



AL AARAAF 39 

A shelter from the fervour of His eye ; 120 

For the stars trembled at the Deity. 

She stirr'd not — breath 'd not — for a voice was there 

How solemnly pervading the calm air ! 

A sound of silence on the startled ear 

Which dreamy poets name " the music of the sphere." 125 

Ours is a world of words : Quiet we call 

" Silence " — which is the merest word of all. 

All Nature speaks, and ev'n ideal things 

Flap shadowy sounds from visionary wings — 

But ah ! not so when, thus, in realms on high 130 

The eternal voice of God is passing by ; 

And the red winds are withering in the sky ! 

" What tho' in worlds which sightless cycles run, 
Link'd to a little system and one sun — 
Where all my love is folly, and the crowd 135 

Still think my terrors but the thunder cloud, 
The storm, the earthquake, and the ocean wrath 
(Ah ! will they cross me in my angrier path ?) — 
What tho' in worlds which own a single sun 
The sands of Time grow dimmer as they run, 140 

Yet thine is my resplendency, so given 
To bear my secrets thro' the upper Heaven. 
Leave tenantless thy crystal home, and fly. 
With all thy train, athwart the moony sky — 
Apart — like fire-flies in Sicilian night, 145 

And wing to other worlds another light ! 
Divulge the secrets of thy embassy 
To the proud orbs that twinkle — and so be 



125 — Silence is the voice of God — ( Yankee). 

127 merest: veriest {S.Al.). 

128 All: Here {Yankee, 1829, 1831, S.M.). 

130 thus, in : in the ( Yankee). 

131 passing: moving {Yankee). 



40 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

To ev'ry heart a barrier and a ban 

Lest the stars totter in the guilt of man ! " 150 

Up rose the maiden in the yellow night, 
The single-mooned eve ! — on Earth we plight 
Our faith to one love — and one moon adore — 
The birth-place of young Beauty had no more. 
As sprang that yellow star from downy hours 155 

Up rose the maiden from her shrine of flowers, 
And bent o'er sheeny mountain and dim plain 
Her way — but left not yet her Therassean reign. 

Part II 

High on a mountain of enamell'd head — 

Such as the drowsy shepherd on his bed 

Of giant pasturage lying at his ease, 

Raising his heavy eyelid, starts and sees 

With many a mutter'd " hope to be forgiven," 5 

What time the moon is quadrated in Heaven — 

Of rosy head, that towering far away 

Into the sunlit ether, caught the ray 

Of sunken suns at eve — at noon of night, 

While the moon danc'd with the fair stranger light — 10 

Uprear'd upon such height arose a pile 

Of gorgeous columns on th' unburthen'd air, 

Flashing from Parian marble that twin smile 

Far down upon the wave that sparkled there. 

And nursled the young mountain in its lair. 15 

Of molten stars their pavement, such as fall 

Thro' the ebon air, besilvering the pall 

Of their own dissolution, while they die — 

Adorning then the dwellings of the sky. 

A dome, by linked light from Heaven let down, 20 

Sat gently on these columns as a crown — 



AL AARAAF 41 

A window of one circular diamond, there, 

Look'd out above into the purple air. 

And rays from God shot down that meteor chain 

And hallow'd all the beauty twice again, 25 

Save when, between th' Empyrean and that ring, 

Some eager spirit fiapp'd his dusky wing. 

But on the pillars Seraph eyes have seen 

The dimness of this world : that greyish green 

That Nature loves the best for Beauty's grave 30 

Lurk'd in each cornice, round each architrave — 

And every sculptur'd cherub thereabout 

That from his marble dwelling peered out, 

Seem'd earthly in the shadow of his niche — 

Achaian statues in a world so rich ! 35 

Friezes from Tadmor and Persepolis, 

From Balbec, and the stilly, clear abyss 

Of beautiful Gomorrah ! O, the wave 

Is now upon thee — but too late to save ! 

Sound loves to revel in a summer night : 40 

Witness the murmur of the grey twilight 
That stole upon the ear, in Eyraco, 
Of many a wild star gazer long ago — 
That stealeth ever on the ear of him 
Who, musing, gazeth on the distance dim, 45 



27 his: a (Yankee). 

33 peered: ven iu red ( Yankee, 1829). 

37 the: iky (1831). 

38 Of: Too (1831). 

39 After this line, Yankee introduces the following lines : 

jFar dozvn witkin ike crystal of the lake 
Thy s%vollen pillars tremble — arid so qtiake 
The hearts of many "wanderers who look in 
Thy luridness of beauty — and of sin. 

40 in: WiV?r (1829, 1831). 



42 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

And sees the darkness coming as a cloud — 

Is not its form — its voice — most palpable and loud ? 

But what is this ? — it cometh — ■ and it brings 
A music with it — 't is the rush of wings — - 
A pause — and then a sweeping, falling strain, 50 

And Nesace is in her halls again. 
From the wild energy of wanton haste 

Her cheeks were flushing, and her lips apart ; 
And zone that clung around her gentle waist 

Had burst beneath the heaving of her heart. 55 

Within the centre of that hall to breathe 
She paus'd and panted, Zanthe ! all beneath. 
The fairy light that kiss'd her golden hair 
And long'd to rest, yet could but sparkle there ! 

Young flowers were whispering in melody 60 

To happy flowers that night — and tree to tree ; 
Fountains were gushing music as they fell 
In many a star-lit grove, or moon-lit dell ; 
Yet silence came upon material things — 
Fair flowers, bright waterfalls, and angel wings — 65 

And sound alone, that from the spirit sprang. 
Bore burthen to the charm the maiden sang : 

" 'Neath blue-bell or streamer — 

Or tufted wild spray 
That keeps from the dreamer 70 

The moonbeam away — 
Bright beings ! that ponder. 

With half closing eyes, 
On the stars which your wonder 

Hath drawn from the skies, 75 



53 cheeks were : cheek -was (1829, 1831, S.M.). 

56 that: this [S.M.). 

58 fairy: brilliant {S.M.). 



AL AARAAF 43 

Till they glance thro' the shade, and 

Come down to your brow 
Like — eyes of the maiden 

Who calls on you now — 
Arise ! from your dreaming 80 

In violet bowers, 
To duty beseeming 

These star-litten hours — 
And shake from your tresses, 

Encumber'd with dew, 85 

The breath of those kisses 

That cumber them too 
(O, how, without you. Love ! 

Could angels be blest ?) — 
Those kisses of true love 90 

That lull'd ye to rest ! 
Up ! — shake from your wing 

Each hindering thing : 
The dew of the night — 

It would weigh down your flight ; 95 

And true love caresses — 

O ! leave them apart : 
They are light on the tresses, 

But lead on the heart. 

" Ligeia ! Ligeia ! 100 

My beautiful one ! 
Whose harshest idea 

Will to melody run, 
O ! is it thy will 

On the breezes to toss ? 105 

Or, capriciously still. 

Like the lone Albatross, 



wing: wings (S.M.). 95 would: ik/H (S.M.). 

Each: All{S.M.); thing: things {S.M.). 99 lead: y^rt-z/j-- (1829, 1831). 



44 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Incumbent on night 

(As she on the air) 
To keep watch with delight no 

On the harmony there ? 

" Ligeia ! wherever 

Thy image may be, 
No magic shall sever 

Thy music from thee. 115 

Thou hast bound many eyes 

In a dreamy sleep — 
But the strains still arise 

Which thy vigilance keep : 
The sound of the rain 120 

Which leaps down to the flower, 
And dances again 

In the rhythm of the shower — 
The murmur that springs 

From the growing of grass 125 

Are the music of things — 

But are modell'd, alas ! — 
Away, then, my dearest, 

O ! hie thee away 
To springs that lie clearest 130 

Beneath the moon-ray — 
To lone lake that smiles. 

In its dream of deep rest, 
At the many star-isles 

That enjewel its breast — 13S 

Where wild flowers, creeping. 

Have mingled their shade. 
On its margin is sleeping 

Full many a maid — 



117 S. M. inserts deep before " dreamy." 



AL AARAAF 45 

Some have left the cool glade, and 140 

Have slept with the bee — 
Arouse them, my maiden. 

On moorland and lea — 
Go 1 breathe on their slumber, 

All softly in ear, 145 

The musical number 

They slumber'd to hear — 
For what can awaken 

An angel so soon, 
Whose sleep hath been taken 150 

Beneath the cold moon. 
As the spell which no slumber 

Of witchery may test, 
The rhythmical number 

Which lull'd him to rest ? " 155 

Spirits in wing, and angels to the view, 
A thousand seraphs burst th' Empyrean thro'. 
Young dreams still hovering on their drowsy flight, 
Seraphs in all but " Knowledge," the keen light 
That fell, refracted, thro' thy bounds, afar, 160 

O Death ! from eye of God upon that star : 
Sweet was that error — sweeter still that death — 
Sweet was that error — ev'n with us the breath 
Of Science dims the mirror of our joy — 

To them 'twere the Simoom, and would destroy — 165 

For what (to them) availeth it to know 
That Truth is Falsehood — or that Bliss is Woe ? 
Sweet was their death — with them to die was rife 
With the last ecstasy of satiate life — 

Beyond that death no immortality — 170 

But sleep that pondereth and is not " to be " — 
And there — oh ! may my weary spirit dwell — 
Apart from Heaven's Eternity — and yet how far from Hell ! 



5 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

What guilty spirit, in what shrubbery dim, 
Heard not the stirring summons of that hymn ? 175 

But two : they fell : for Heaven no grace imparts 
To those who hear not for their beating hearts. 
A maiden-angel and her seraph-lover — 

! where (and ye may seek the wide skies over) 

Was Love, the blind, near sober Duty known ? 180 

Unguided Love hath fallen — 'mid " tears of perfect moan." 

He was a goodly spirit — he who fell : 
A wanderer by moss-y-mantled well — 
A gazer on the lights that shine above — 

A dreamer in the moonbeam by his love : 185 

What wonder ? for each star is eye-like there, 
And looks so sweetly down on Beauty's hair ; 
And they, and ev'ry mossy spring were holy 
To his love-haunted heart and melancholy. 

The night had found (to him a night of wo) 190 

Upon a mountain crag, young Angelo — 
Beetling it bends athwart the solemn sky. 
And scowls on starry worlds that down beneath it lie. 
Here sate he with his love — his dark eye bent 
With eagle gaze along the firmament : 195 

Now turn'd it upon her — ■ but ever then 
It trembled to the orb of Earth again. 

" lanthe, dearest, see ! how dim that ray I 
How lovely 't is to look so far away ! 
She seemed not thus upon that autumn eve 200 

1 left her gorgeous halls — nor mourn'd to leave. 
That eve — that eve — I should remember well — 
The sun-ray dropp'd, in Lemnos, with a spell 

On th' Arabesque carving of a gilded hall 

Wherein I sate, and on the draperied wall — 205 



197 the orb of Earth : one constant star (1829, 1831). 



AL AARAAF 47 

And on my eyelids — O the heavy light ! 

How drowsily it weigh 'd them into night ! 

On flowers, before, and mist, and love they ran 

With Persian Saadi in his Gulistan : 

But O that light ! — I slumber 'd — Death, the while, 210 

Stole o'er my senses in that lovely isle 

So softly that no single silken hair 

Awoke that slept — or knew that he was there. 

" The last spot of Earth's orb I trod upon 
Was a proud temple call'd the Parthenon. 215 

More beauty clung around her column'd wall 
Than ev'n thy glowing bosom beats withal. 
And when old Time my wing did disenthral — 
Thence sprang I — as the eagle from his tower, 
And years I left behind me in an hour. 220 

What time upon her airy bounds I hung. 
One half the garden of her globe was flung, 
Unrolling as a chart unto my view — 
Tenantless cities of the desert too ! 

lanthe, beauty crowded on me then, 225 

And half I wish'd to be again of men." 

" My Angelo ! and why of them to be ? 
A brighter dwelling-place is here for thee. 
And greener fields than in yon world above, 
And woman's loveliness — and passionate love." 230 

" But, list, lanthe ! when the air so soft 
Fail'd, as my pennon'd spirit leapt aloft. 
Perhaps my brain grew dizzy — but the world 
I left so late was into chaos hurl'd — 
Sprang from her station, on the winds apart, 235 

And roll'd, a flame, the fiery Heaven athwart. 



213 he : // (1829, 1831). 



48 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Methought, my sweet one, then I ceased to soar, 

And fell — not swiftly as I rose before, 

But with a downward, tremulous motion thro' 

Light, brazen rays, this golden star unto ! 240 

Nor long the measure of my falling hours. 

For nearest of all stars was thine to ours — 

Dread star ! that came, amid a night of mirth, 

A red Daedalion on the timid Earth." 

" We came — and to thy Earth — but not to us 245 

Be given our lady's bidding to discuss : 
We came, my love ; around, above, below. 
Gay fire-fly of the night we come and go. 
Nor ask a reason save the angel-nod 

She grants to us, as granted by her God — 250 

But, Angelo, than thine grey Time unfurl'd 
Never his fairy wing o'er f airier world ! 
Dim was its little disk, and angel eyes 
Alone could see the phantom in the skies, 
When first Al Aaraaf knew her course to be 255 

Headlong thitherward o'er the starry sea — 
But when its glory swell'd upon the sky. 
As glowing Beauty's bust beneath man's eye. 
We paus'd before the heritage of men. 
And thy star trembled — as doth Beauty then ! " 260 

Thus, in discourse, the lovers whiled away 
The night that waned and waned and brought no day. 
They fell : for Heaven to them no hope imparts 
Who hear not for the beating of their hearts. 

(1829) 



ROMANCE 49 



ROMANCE 

Romance, who loves to nod and sing, 
With drowsy head and folded wing, 
Among the green leaves as they shake 
Far down within some shadowy lake, 
To me a painted paroquet 
Hath been — a most familiar bird — 
Taught me my alphabet to say. 
To lisp my very earliest word, 
While in the wild wood I did lie, 
A child — with a most knowing eye. 



Title Preface (1829), Introduction (1831). 

10 After this line, 1831 inserts the following : 

Succeeding years, too wild for song, 
Then rolPd like tropic storms along. 
Where, tho'' the garish lights that fly. 
Dying along the troubled sky 
Lay bare^ thro^ vistas thunder-riven. 
The blackness of the general Heaven, 
That very blackness yet doth fling 
Light on the lightning's silver wing. 

For, being an idle boy lang syne. 
Who read An acre on, and drank wifte, 
I early found Anacreon rhymes 
Were almost passionate sometimes — 
And by strange alchemy of brain 
His pleasures always turn'' d to pain — 
His naivete to wild desire — 
His wit to love — his wine to fire — 
And so, being young and dipt in folly 
I fell in love with melancholy. 
And used to throzv my eaJihly rest 
Atid quiet all away iti jest — 
/ could not love except where Death 
Was mingling his with Beauty's breath 
Or Hymen, Time, atid Destiny 
Were stalking between her and me. 



50 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Of late, eternal Condor years 

So shake the very Heaven on high 

With tumult as they thunder by, 

I have no time for idle cares 

Through gazing on the unquiet sky. 15 

And when an hour with calmer wings 

Its down upon my spirit flings — 

That little time with lyre and rhyme 

To while away — forbidden things ! 

My heart would feel to be a crime 20 

Unless it trembled with the strings. 

(1829) 



11 Of late : O, then the (1831). 

13 shake: shook (1831) ; Heaven: «?> (1829), Heavens (1831, B.J.). 

13 thunder: thtindefd {i&i,-L). 

14 I hardly have had time for cares (1829), I scarcely have had time for 
cares {S.M.) ; have: had (1831). 

16 And when: C>r «/ (1831) ; wings: 7ot«^ (1831). 

17 upon: did on (1831) ; flings : yfm^ {1831). 

18 time : hotir (1831). 

19 things: thing [\^-},\). 

20 would feel : halffear'd (1831). 

21 Unless it trembled : Did it not tremble (1829) ; strings : string (1831). 
After this Une, 1831 adds the following : 

But now my soul hath too much room. — 
Gone are the glory and the gloom — 
The black hath mellow'd into grey, 
And all the fires are fading away. 

My draught of passion hath been deep — 
/ revelPd, and I now wotcld sleep — 
And after-drunkenness of soul 
Succeeds the glories of the bowl — 
An idle longing night and day 
To dream my very life away. 

But dreams — of those who dream as I, 
Aspiringly, are damned, and die : 
Yet should I swear I mean alone. 
By notes so very shrilly blown, 



TO THE RIVER 



TO 



The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see 

The wantonest singing birds, 
Are lips — and all thy melody 

Of lip-begotten words. 

Thine eyes, in Heaven of heart enshrined. 

Then desolately fall, 
O, God ! on my funereal mind 

Like starlight on a pall. 

Thy heart — thy heart ! — I wake and sigh. 

And sleep to dream till day 

Of the truth that gold can never buy — 

Of the baubles that it may. 

(1829) 

TO THE RIVER 

Fair river ! in thy bright, clear flow 

Of crystal, wandering water. 
Thou art an emblem of the glow 

Of beauty — the unhidden heart — 
The playful maziness of art 
In old Alberto's daughter ; 



To break upon Time's mojiotone, 
While yet my vapid joy and grief 
Are tint less of the yellow leaf — 
Why not an imp the g7-eybeard hath. 
Will shake his shadow in my path — 
And even the greybeard will overlook 
Connivingly my dreaming-book. 

Title To (1829). 

11 the : Omitted in 1831. 

12 baubles: trifes (1829). 

2 crystal, wandering: labyrinth-like (1829, B. G.M.). 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

But when within thy wave she looks — 

Which glistens then, and trembles — 
Why, then, the prettiest of brooks 

Her worshipper resembles ; 
For in his heart, as in thy stream, 

Her image deeply lies — 
His heart which trembles at the beam 

Of her soul-searching eyes. 

(1829) 

TO 

I heed not that my earthly lot 

Hath — little of Earth in it — 
That years of love have been forgot 

In the hatred of a minute : — 
I mourn not that the desolate 

Are happier, sweet, than I, 
But that you sorrow for my fate 

Who am a passer by. 

(1829) 



11 his: my (1829, B.G.M., B.J.). 

13 His: The (1829, B.G.AL, B.J.). 

14 Of her soul-searching : The sn-ietmy of her (1829, B. G.M.). 

Title To M (1829). 

1 I heed: 01 I care {1829). 

4 hatred: fever (1829). 

5 mourn: heed (1829). 

7 sorrow for: meddle with (1829). 

8 After this line, 1829 adds the following (the poem being divided into 
stanzas in that edition) : 

3 
It is not thai my founts of bliss 

Are gushing — strange! with tears — 
Or that the thrill of a single kiss 

Hath palsied many years — 



FAIRY-LAND 53 



FAIRY-LAND 



Dim vales — and shadowy floods ■ 
And cloudy-looking woods, 
Whose forms we can't discover 
For the tears that drip all over : 



4 

^Tis not that the floivers of twenty springs 
IVhich have withered as they rose 

Lie dead on my heart-strings 

With the weight of an age of snows. 

5 
Nor that the grass — O ! may it thrive ! 

On my grave is growing or gronni — 
But that, while I am dead yet alive 

I cannot be, lady, alone. 

1 In 1831 the following forty lines are prefixed to Fairy- Land: 
Sit down beside me, Isabel, 
Here, dearest, where the moottbeam fell 
fust now so fairy-like and well. 
Now thou art dress'' d for paradise ! 
I am. star-stricken with thine eyes ! 
My soul is lolling on thy sighs I 
Thy hair is lifted by the moon 
Like flowers by the low breath of fune I 
Sit down, sit down — how came we here ? 
Or is it all but a dream, my dear? 

You know that most enorvious floiver — 

That rose — that what d' ye call it — that hung 

Up like a dog-star itt this bower — 

To-day (the wind blew, and) it swutig 

So impudently in my face, 

So like a thing alive you know, 

I tore it from its pride of place 

And shook it into pieces- — so 

Be all ingratitude reqtiited. 

The winds ran off with it delighted. 

And, thro' the opening left, as soon 

As she threw off her cloak, yon moon 

Has sent a ray down with a tune. 



54 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Huge moons there wax and wane — 

Again — again — again — 

Every moment of the night — 

Forever changing places — 

And they put out the star-light 

With the breath from their pale faces. 

About twelve by the moon-dial, 



And this ray is a fairy ray — 

Did you not say so, Isabel? 

How fantastically it fell 

With a spiral twist and a swell, 

And over the wet grass rippled away 

With a tinkling like a bell ! 

In my own country all the way 

We can discover a moon ray 

Which thro' some tatter' d cnriain pries 

Ittto the darkness of a room. 

Is by {the vety sotcrce of glootn) 

The motes, and dust, and flies. 

On which it trembles and lies 

Like joy upon sorrow I 

O, when will come the morrow ? 

Isabel, do you not fear 

The night and the wonders here ? 

5 there: see! (1831). 9 And: How (18: 

11-28 For these lines, 1831 substitutes the following: 

Lo ! one is coming down 

With its centre on the crown 

Of a mountain's eminence ! 

Down — still down — and down — 

Mow deep shall be — O deep ! 

The passion of our sleep ! 

For that wide circumference 

In easy drapery falls 

Drowsily over halls — 

Over ruin''d walls — 

Over waterfalls, 

{Silent waterfalls I) 

O'er the strange woods — o'er the sea 

Alas ! over the sea ! 



FAIRY-LAND 55 

One more filmy than the rest 

(A kind which, upon trial, 

They have found to be the best) 

Comes down — still down — and down 1 5 

With its centre on the crown 

Of a mountain's eminence. 

While its wide circumference 

In easy drapery falls 

Over hamlets, over halls, 20 

Wherever they may be — 

O'er the strange woods — o'er the sea — 

Over spirits on the wing — 

Over every drowsy thing — ■ 

And buries them up quite 25 

In a labyrinth of light — 

And then, how deep ! — O, deep. 

Is the passion of their sleep ! 

In the morning they arise, 

And their moony covering 30 

Is soaring in the skies. 

With the tempests as they toss, 

Like — almost any thing — 

Or a yellow Albatross. 

They use that moon no more 35 

For the same end as before, 

Videlicet, a tent — 

Which I think extravagant : 

Its atomies, however. 

Into a shower dissever, 40 

Of which those butterflies 

Of Earth, who seek the skies, 



13 kind: sort (1829, B.G.M.). 

20 over: and rick (1829, B. CM.). 

29-46 Omitted in 1831. 



56 THE POEMS OF. EDGAR ALLAN POE 

And so come down again 

(Never-contented things !) 

Have brought a specimen 45 

Upon their quivering wings. 



(1829) 



TO HELEN 



Helen, thy beauty is to me 

Like those Nicean barks of yore, 

That gently, o'er a perfumed sea, 
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore 
To his own native shore. 

On desperate seas long wont to roam, 
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, 

Thy Naiad airs have brought me home 
To the glory that was Greece 

And the grandeur that was Rome. 

Lo ! in yon brilliant window-niche 
How statue-like I see thee stand. 
The agate lamp within thy hand ! 

Ah, Psyche, from the regions which 
Are Holy Land ! 

(1831) 



44 Never-contented : The unbelieving (1829, B. G.M.). 

9 glory that was : beauty affair (1831, S.L.M.). 

10 And: To ^Graham's [1841]) ; that was : of old {\?,z^, S.L.M.). 

11 yon brilliant: that little (1831, S.L.M.), that shadowy (Graham's 
[1841]). 

13 agate, \dsmp : folded scroll (x%Z'^, S. L. M., Graham's [1841]). 



ISRAFEL 57 

ISRAFEL 

And the angel Israfel, whose heart-strings are a lute, and who has the 
sweetest voice of all God's creatures. — Koran. 

In Heaven a spirit doth dwell 

" Whose heart-strings are a lute " ; 
None sing so wildly well 
As the angel Israfel, 

And the giddy stars (so legends tell), 5 

Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell 

Of his voice, all mute. 



Tottering above 

In her highest noon, 
The enamoured moon 

Blushes with love, 

While, to listen, the red levin 
(With the rapid Pleiads, even, 
Which were seven,) 
Pauses in Heaven. 



IS 



And they say (the starry choir 

And the other listening things) 
That Israfeli's fire 



Motto " And the angel Israfel who has the sweetest voice of all God's 
creatures. — Koran " (1831, S.L.A/.) ; " And the angel Israfel, or Israfeli, 
whose heartstrings are a lute, and who is the most t?iicsical of all God's 
creatures. — Koran" {Graham's). In B./. the passage is credited to 
" Sale's Koran." 

3 wildly: wild — so (1831, S.L.M.). 

5-7 And the giddy stars are mute (1831, S.L.M.). 

13, 14 Omitted in 1831 and S-L./M. 

15 Transposed in Graham's so as to follow line 12. 

17 the other: all the (1831, S.L.M.). 



58 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Is owing to that lyre 

By which he sits and sings — 20 

The trembling living wire 

Of those unusual strings. 

But the skies that angel trod, 

Where deep thoughts are a duty, 
Where Love 's a grown-up God, 25 

Where the Houri glances are 
Imbued with all the beauty 

Which we worship in a star. 

Therefore, thou art not wrong, 

Israfeli, who despisest 30 

•An unimpassioned song ; 
To thee the laurels belong. 

Best bard, because the wisest ! 
Merrily live, and long ! 

The ecstasies above 35 

With thy burning measures suit — 



19 owing to: due tmto {Graham'' s). 
20, 21 Omitted in 1831 and S.L.M. 

21 The: That {Grahani' s) ; wire: lyj-e {Graham's}. 

22 Of: With (1831, S.L.M., Graham's). 

23 skies: Heavens (1831, S.L.M., Graham's). 

25 Where : And {S. A/., B.J.) ; Love 's a grown-up : Love is a groivn 
{t&ZX.S.L.M., Graham's). 

26 Where: Atid {S.M., B.J.); the: omitted in 1831, i'.Z.il/., and Gra- 
ham's. After this line, 1831 inserts the following line : 

— Stay ! turn thitie eyes afar ! 

28 a: yon (1831), the {Graham's). After this line, Graham's inserts 

77ie more lovely, the more far ! 

29 Thou art not, therefore, wrong (1831, S.L.AL, Graham's, S.Af., B.J.). 
34 Omitted in 1831 and S.L.M. 



ISRAFEL 59 

Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love, 
With the fervour of thy lute — 
Well may the stars be mute ! 

Yes, Heaven is thine; but this . .40 

Is a world of sweets and sours ; 

Our flowers are merely — fxowers. 
And the shadow of thy perfect bliss 

Is the sunshine of ours. 

If I could dwell 45 

Where Israfel 

Hath dwelt, and he where I, 
He might not sing so wildly well 

A mortal melody. 
While a bolder note than this might swell 50 

From my lyre within the sky. 

(1831) 
THE CITY IN THE SEA 

Lo ! Death has reared himself a throne 

In a strange city lying alone 

Far down within the dim West, 

Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best 

Have gone to their eternal rest. 5 



37 Thy grief — z/rtwj)/ — thy love (1831, S.L.M.). 
43 perfect: Omitted in 1831, S.L.Af., and Graham's. 
45 could: a'/V (1831, S.L.M., Graha7n\s). 
45, 46 Printed as one Hne in 1831 and S.L.Af. 

48 might: zwitld (1831, S.L.M.) ; so wildly: one half as (1831, S.L.Af.), 
one ha/f so {Graham's). 

49 0?te half as passionately (1831, S.L.Af.), One half so passionately 
(Graham's). 

50 And a storfnier note than this would swell (1831) ; And a loftier note 
than this would swell (S.L.Af.). 

Title The Doomed City (1831), The City of Sin (S.L.Af.), The City in 
the Sea. A Prophecy (A. lV.fi.). 

1 has: hath (1831). 3 Far off in a region unblest (A. W.R.). 

2 lying: all (1831, S.L.Af.). 4 Where: And (1831^. 



6o THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

There shrines and palaces and towers 
(Time-eaten towers that tremble not !) 
Resemble nothing that is ours. 
Around, by lifting winds forgot, 
Resignedly beneath the sky 
The melancholy waters lie. 

No rays from the holy heaven come down 
On the long night-time of that town ; 
But light from out the lurid sea 
Streams up the turrets silently — 
Gleams up the pinnacles far and free — 
LTp domes — up spires — up kingly halls — 
Up fanes — up Babylon-like walls — 
Up shadowy long-forgotten bowers 
Of sculptured ivy and stone flowers — 
Up many and many a marvellous shrine 



7 Transposed to precede line 9 (1831, S.L.A/.). 

8 Are — not like anything 0/ outs (1831, S.L.M.). After this line, 1831 
and S. L. M. insert the following : 

O! no — O! no — oxiis never loom 
To heaven with that ungodly gloom ! 

11 After this line, 1831 inserts the following : 

A heaven that God doth not contemn 
With stars is like a diadem — 
Wis liken our ladies^ eyes to them — 
Btit there I that ez'erlasting pall ! 
It would be mockery to call 
Such dreariness a heaven at all. 

12 Yet iho' no holy rays come down (1831) ; No holy rays from heaven 
come down {S.L.M.). 

14 Light from the lurid, deep sea (1831). 

16 Omitted in 1831 and S. L. M. 

17, 18 Transposed to follow Hne 20 in 1831 and S.L.J/. 

19 shadowy: thrones — ?// (1831, S.L.J/.). 

21 and many a marvellous: a melancholy (1831, S.L.A/.). 



THE CITY IN THE SEA 6l 

Whose wreathed friezes intertwine 
The viol, the violet, and the vine. 

Resignedly beneath the sky 

The melancholy waters lie. 25 

So blend the turrets and shadows there 

That all seem pendulous in air, 

While from a proud tower in the town 

Death looks gigantically down. 

There open fanes and gaping graves 30 

Yawn level with the luminous waves ; 

But not the riches there that lie 

In each idol's diamond eye — 

Not the gaily-jewelled dead 

Tempt the waters from their bed ; 35 

For no ripples curl, alas ! 

Along that wilderness of glass — 

No swellings tell that winds may be 

Upon some far-off happier sea — 



22 wreathed friezes: entablatures (1831, S.L.M.). 

23 For this Hne, 1831 and 6". L. M. substitute the following ; 

The mask — the viol — and the vine. 

24, 25 Omitted in 1831 and S.L.M. 
25 The melancholy : Around the monmficl {A. IV. R.). 
26-29 Transposed to follow line 39 (1831, S.L.M.). 
28 a proud tower in : the high totvers of (1831, S.L.M.). 
28-35 Omitted in A. IV. R. 

30 fanes and gaping: temples — open (1831, S.L.M.). 

31 For this line, 1831 and .S". L. M. substitute the following : 

Are on a level with the waves. 

36 For no : No murmnn'tig {A. W.R.). 

38 tell: hint (1831, S.L.M.). 

39 some: a (1831, S.L.M., A. W.R.). 



62 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

No heavings hint that winds have been 40 

On seas less hideously serene. 

But lo, a stir is in the air ! 

The wave — there is a movement there ! 

As if the towers had thmst aside, 

In slightly sinking, the dull tide — 45 

As if their tops had feebly given 

A void within the filmy Heaven. 

The waves have now a redder glow — 

The hours are breathing faint and low — 

And when, amid no earthly moans, 50 

Down, down that town shall settle hence, 

Hell, rising from a thousand thrones, 

Shall do it reverence. 

(1831) 



40, 41 Omitted in 1831 and S.L.J/. 

41 For this line, .4. IV. R. substitutes the following: 

On oct-ans not so sad-serefie. 

43 movement: ripple (1831, S.L.J/.). 

44 thrust: thrown (1831, S.L.M.). 

46 For this line, 1831 and S.L.M. substitute the following: 

As if the turret-tops had given. 

47 void within: vacuum in (1831, S.L.M.). 

49 The very hours are breathing low (1831, S.L.M.). 

52 Hell, rising: AH Hades (S.L.M.). 

53 1831 and S.L.M. add the following: 

And Death to some ?nore happy clime 
Shall give his undivided time. 



THE SLEEPER 63 

THE SLEEPER 

At midnight, in the month of June, 

I stand beneath the mystic moon. 

An opiate vapor, dewy, dim, 

Exhales from out her golden rim. 

And softly dripping, drop by drop, 5 

Upon the quiet mountain top. 

Steals drowsily and musically 

Into the universal valley. 

The rosemary nods upon the grave ; 

The lily lolls upon the wave ; 10 

Wrapping the fog about its breast, 

The ruin moulders into rest ; 

Looking like Lethe, see ! the lake 



The text of Irene, inasmuch as it differs widely from the later versions 
of The Sleeper, is given here in its entirety, the edition of 1831 being 
followed. The variants of S.L.M. from 1831 are given in brackets at the 
end. The variants for all other texts are given at the foot of the page. 

Irene 

^Tis 72010 (so shigs the soaring Till thoughts and locks a7'e left, alas ! 

moon) A ne'er-to-be untangled mass. 
Midnight in the srueet month of 

June, An influence dewy, dro'cosy, dim, 

li'Tien winged visions love to lie Is dripping from that golden rim ; 10 

Lazily upon beauty's eye, G^-ey towers are mo2ildering into rest, 

Or worse — upon her brow to dance 5 Wrapping the fog arotind their breast : 

In panoply of old roma7ice. Looking like Lethe, see ! the lake 

[1, 2 For these two lines, S. L.M. reads : 

I stand beneath the soaring moon 
At midnight in the month of June. 

3-8 Ortiitted in S.L.M. 10 that: yon (5.Z./1/.).] 



Title Ire7ie (1831, S.L.M.). 11 fog: 77iist {P. P. A.). 



64 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

A conscious slumber seems to take, 
And would not, for the world, awake. 
All Beauty sleeps ! — and lo ! where lies 
Irene, with her Destinies ! 

Oh, lady bright ! can it be right — 
This window open to the night ? 

A conscious slumber seems to take, 
And would not for the world awake : 
The rosemary sleeps upon the grave — 
The lily lolls upon the wave — 
And million bright pines to ajid f7-o, 
Are rocking lullabies as they go. 
To the lone oak that reels with bliss, 
Nodding above the dim abyss. 

All beauty sleeps : and lo ! where lies 

With caseme7it ope7i to the skies, 

Irene, with her destinies ! 

Thus hiiitis the moon within her eat; 
" O lady sweet ! how earnest thou here ? 
" Strange are thine eyelids — strange thy dress! 
" And strange thy glo7-iotis length of tress ! 
" Sure thou art come o'er far-off seas, 
" A wonder to oicr dese7-t trees ! 
" Some ge7itle wi7td hath thought it right 
" To open thy window to the night, 

[18 bright pi7ies : ceda7-s (S.L.M.). 

20 reels with bliss: 7ioddi7ig ha7igs (S.L.M.). 

21 Above y 071 cataract of Sera7igs. {S.L.M.) 

25 For this line, S. L. M. substitutes the following : 
And hark the sounds so low yet clear, 
{Like music of another sphe7-e) 
Which steal withi7t the slumberer''s ear. 
Or so appear — or so appear !'\ 



16 After this line, all texts save that of the Lorimer Graham copy insert a 
line : With casement open to the skies {1831, S.L.M., P. P. A.), Her casement 
open to the skies {S.M., B.f., 1845). 

17 with: a7td(P.P.A.). 

19 window: lattice (P.P.A.,S.M.). 



THE SLEEPER 65 

The wanton airs, from the tree-top, 20, 

Laughingly through the lattice drop — 

The bodiless airs, a wizard rout, 

Flit through thy chamber in and out, 

And wave the curtain canopy 

So fitfully — so fearfully — 25 

Above the closed and fringed lid 

'Neath which thy slumb'ring soul lies hid, 

That, o'er the floor and down the wall, 

Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall ! 

Oh, lady dear, hast thou no fear ? 30 

Why and what art thou dreaming here ? 

Sure thou art come o'er far-off seas, 

A wonder to these garden trees ! 

Strange is thy pallor ! strange thy dress ! 

Strange, above all, thy length of tress, 35 

And this all solemn silentness ! 



■ And wanton airs from the tree-top Tke lady sleeps: the dead all sleep — 

■ Laughingly thro' the lattice drop, At least as long as Love doth weep : 
'And wave this crimson canopy 35 Entranc'd, the spirit loves to lie 

'■ Like a banner o'' er thy dreaming eye I As long — as tears on Memory^ s eye : 

■ Lady, awake ! lady awake I But zaheft a week or two go by, 45 
' For the holy Jesus^ sake ! And the light laugkterchokes the sigh, 
' For strangely — fearficlly in this hall Lndignant from the tomb doth take 
'My tinted shadows rise and fall ! " 40 Lts way to some remember' d lake, 

[35 After this line, S.L.M. inserts the line : 
So fitfully, so fearfully. 

36 Like: As{S.L.M.). 

36 After this line, S. L. M. inserts the following : 

That o'er the floor, and down the wall, 
Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall — 
Then, for thine own all radiant sake. 

37 Lady, awake! awake I awake! (S.L.M.). 
38-59 Omitted in S.L.M.] 



20, 21 Omitted in P.P. A. and S.M. 33 these: our {P. P. A. 

35 Straftger thy glorious length of tress [P. P. A.). 



66 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

The lady sleeps ! Oh, may her sleep, 

Which is enduring, so be deep ! 

Heaven have her in its sacred keep ! 

This chamber changed for one more holy, 40 

This bed for one more melancholy, 

I pray to God that she may lie 

Forever with unopened eye, 

While the pale sheeted ghosts go by ! 

My love, she sleeps ! Oh, may her sleep, 45 

As it is lasting, so be deep ! 

Soft may the worms about her creep ! 



Where oft — in life — with friends — it went 

To bathe in the pure ele?nent, 

And there, from the untrodden grass, 

Wreathi7ig for its transparent brow 

Those flowers that say {ah hear them now !) 

To the night-winds as they pass, 

" Ai ! ai ! alas ! — alas ! " 

Po7-es for a moment, ere it go, 

On the clear waters there that flow. 

Then sinks within {zveig^d down by wo) 

Tk' uncertain, shadowy heaven below. 

The lady sleeps : oh ! may her sleep 

As it is lasting so be deep — 

No icy worms about her creep : 

I pray to God that she may lie 

Forever with as calm an eye, 

That chamber chang'd for one more holy — 

That bed for one more melancholy. 



39 For this line, P.P. A. substitutes line 47. 

40 chamber: bed, being (P. P. A.). 

41 bed: room [P. P. A.). 

43 unopened: u7iclosed(P.P.A.). 

44 Omitted m. P.P.A.; pale: dim {S.M., B.f., 1845). 
47 For this line, P. P. A. substitutes line 39. 



THE SLEEPER 6^ 

Far in the forest, dim and old, 

For her may some tall vault unfold — 

Some vault that oft hath flung its black 50 

And winge'd pannels fluttering back, 

Triumphant, o'er the crested palls 

Of her grand family funerals — 

Some sepulchre, remote, alone. 

Against whose portal she hath thrown, 55 
In childhood, many an idle stone — 
Some tomb from out whose sounding door 
She ne'er shall force an echo more. 
Thrilling to think, poor child of sin ! 
It was the dead who groaned within. 60 
(1831) 

Far in the forest, dim and old. 

For her may some tall vault unfold, 

Against whose sounding door she hath thrown, 

In childhood many an idle stone — 70 

Some tomb, -which oft hath flung its black 

And vampy re-winged pannels back, 

Flutfring triumphant o'er the palls 

Of her old family funerals. 

[72 vampyre-winged : vampire-7oing-like (6". Z.y!/.).] 



49 vault: tomb [P. P. A.). 

50 vault: toinb (P. PA.). 

51 winged: winglike [P. P. A.). 
57 tomb: vault (P. P. A.). 

59 Thrilling: A^or thrill {P.P. A.). 



68 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

LENORE 

Ah, broken is the golden bowl ! — • the spirit flown forever ! 
Let the bell toll ! — a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river : — 
And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear? — weep now or never more ! 
See ! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore ! 



The text of A Pcean^ inasmuch as it differs markedly from later versions 
of Lenore, is presented here in its entirety, the text of 1831 being followed. 
The variations from the Southern Literary Messenger are given in the brack- 
eted footnotes. Below it is given the Pio7ieert^yX, which is in verbal agree- 
ment, except in line 4, with the text of the Saturday Museum. 

A Fman (1831) 
I. II. 

L^07a shall the burial rite be read ? Herfi-iends are gazing on her, 5 

The solemn song be sung ? And on her gaudy bier, 

The requiem for the loveliest dead. And weep I — oh ! to dishonor 

That ever died so young ? Dead beauty with a tear ! 

[8 Dead: Her [S.L.M.).] 

Lenore {Pioneer) 

Ah, broken is the golden bowl ! 

The spirit flown forever ! 
Let the bell toll ! — A saintly soul 
Glides dozvn the Stygian river ! 
And let the burial rite be read — • S 

The funeral song be sung — 
A dirge for the most lovely dead 
That ever died so young ! 
And, Guy De Vere, 
Hast thou no tear? 10 

Weep now or nevermore ! 
See, on yon drear 
And rigid bier. 

Low lies thy love Lenore ! 



[4 Glides down: floats on {S.M.).] 



Title A Pcsan (1831, S.L.M.). 



LENORE 69 

Come, let the burial rite be read— the funeral song be sung! — 5 
An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young — 
A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young. 

" Wretches ! ye loved her for her wealth, and ye hated her for 

her pride ; 
And, when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her — that she died : — 
How shall the ritual, then, be read — the requiem how be sung 10 
By you — by yours, the evil eye, — by yours, the slanderous tongue 
That did to death the innocence that died, and died so young ? " 



[A P.EAN (1831)] III. 

They loved her for her weahh — 

And they hated her for her pride — 
But she g7-ezi) in feeble health, 

And they love her — that she died. 

IV. 

They tell me {while they speak 
Of her " costly braider'' d palV) 

That my voice is growi7tg weak — 
That I should not sing at all — 

[Lenore {Pio7teer)\ 

" Yon heir, whose cheeks of pallid hue 
With tears are streaming wet, 
Sees only, through 
Their crocodile dew, 
A vacant coronet — 

False friends I ye loved her for her wealth 

And hated her for her pride, 
And, when she fell in feeble health, 
Ye blessed her — that she died. 

How shall the ritual, then, be read ? 
The requiem how be sung 

For her most wrong'd of all the dead 
That ever died so young ? " 



6 Come: Ah {Graham's). 

7 A : Omitted in BJ. 

8 ye hated : hated (all other versions). 



70 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Peccavimus ; yet rave not thus ! but let a Sabbath song 

Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel no wrong ! 

The sweet Lenore hath gone before, with Hope that flew beside, 1 5 

Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy bride — 

For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies, 

The life upon her yellow hair, but not within her eyes — 

The life still there upon her hair, the death upon her eyes. 



[A P^AN (1831)] 

V. VII. 

Or that my tone should be Of the dead — dead who lies 25 

Tim'd to sKch solemn so7ig All perfiim''d there. 

So mournfully — so mournfully. With the death upon her eyes, 

That the dead may feel no wrong. 20 And the hfe upon her hair. 

VI. VIII. 

But she is gone above, Thus on the coffin loud and long 

'With yo2e7ig Hope at her side, /strike — the munnur sent 30 

And I a7)t drtink with love Through the gray chambers to my song. 

Of the dead, who is my bride. — Shall be the accoinpanimetit. 

\2Q perfum'' d there : motionless {S.L.M.). 

28 her hair: each tress {S.L.M.). 29-32 S.L.M. omits.] 

[Lenore {Pioneer)^ 
Peccavimus ! 
But rave not thus ! 

And let the solevtn song 30 

Go up to God so inoumfully that she may feel no wrong ! 
The sweet Lenore 
Hath " gone before " 

^\\h young hope at her side. 

And thou art wild 35 

For the dear child 
That should have been thy bride — 
For her, the fair 
And debonair. 

That now so lowly lies — • 40 

The life still there 
Upon her hair, 

The death upon her eyes. 



13 yet: bttt (all other texts) ; but: and (all other texts). 



LENORE 71 

" Avaunt ! — avaunt ! to friends from fiends the indignant ghost is 
riven — 20 

From Hell unto a high estate within the utmost Heaven — 
From moan and groan to a golden throne beside the King of 

Heaven : — 
[A P.i^AN (1831)] 

IX. X. 

Thou dieds't in thy life's June — From more than fiends on eaf-th, 

But thou dicVst not die too fair: Thy life and love are riven, 

Thou did'st not die too soon, 35 To join the untainted mirth 
Nor zuith too calm an air. Of in ore than thrones in heaven — 40 

[33, 34 S.L.M. substitutes the following : 

In June she died — in June 
Of life — beloved, and fair. 

35 Thou did'st: But she did (S.L.AL). 

38 Helen, thy soul is riven (S.L.M.). 

39 untainted: all-halloioed {S.L.M.):\ 

[Lenore {PioneerW 

" Avaunt ! — to-night 
My heart is light — 45 

No dirge will I upraise, 
But waft the angel on her flight 
With a Pasan of old days ! 
Let no bell toll ! 

Lest her sweet soul, 5° 

Amid its hallow'd mirth. 
Should catch the note 
As it doth float 
Up from the damned earth — 

To friends above, from fiends below, 55 

th' indignant ghost is riven — 
From grief and moan 
To a gold throne 
Beside the King of Heaven ! " 



20 Avaunt ! — avaunt ! to friends from fiends : To friends above, from 
fiends beloii) {Graham's, BJ., 1845, P. P. A.). 

20-26 Graham's, B.J., 1845, ^^d P. P. A. transpose these lines so that 
the sequence becomes 25, 26, 23, 24, 20, 21, 22. 
"^ 21 within the utmost : far up within the (all other texts). 

22 moan : ^^(all other texts except B.J. and Graham's). 



72 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Let no bell toll, then, lest her soul, amid its hallowed mirth, 23 
Should catch the note as it doth float up from the damned Earth ! 
And I — to-night my heart is light : — no dirge will I upraise, 
But waft the angel on her flight with a Paean of old days 1 " 

(1831) 
THE VALLEY OF UNREST 

Once it smiled a silent dell 
Where the people did not dwell ; 
- They had gone unto the wars, 
Trusting to the mild-eyed stars. 



[A P^AN (1831)] 

XI. 

Therefore, to thee this night 

I will no requiem raise. 
But waft thee on thy flight 

With a Paean of old days. 

The text of The Valley Nis differs radically from later versions of The 
Valley of Unrest, and hence is given here in its entirety, the edition of 1831 
being followed. The variations of the Soiithe^-n Literacy Afessettger axe. given 
at the end in brackets. 

The Valley Nis 

Far away — far azvay — Something about Satan'' s dart — 

Far away — as far at least Something about angel wings — ■ 

Lies that valley as the day Much about a broken heart — 

Down within the golden east — All about unhappy things : 

All things lovely — are not they 5 But '■'■t/ie valley Nis " at best 15 

Far away — far away ? Means '''the valley of unrest." 

It is called the valley Nis. Once it smiled a silent dell 

And a Syriac tale there is Where the people did not dwell, 

Thereabout which Time hath said Having gone unto the wars — 

Shall not be interpreted. 10 And the sly, mysteriotis stars, 20 

[6 Faraway: One and all, too [S.L.M.)P[ 

23 then: Omitted in Graham's, B.f., 1845, P-F.A.\ sweet is inserted 
before "soul" by Graham's, B.f, 1845, ^"d P.P. A. 
25 And I: Avaunt {Graham's, B.f., 1845, P. P. A.). 

Title The Valley Nis (1831, S.L.M.). 



THE VALLEY OF UNREST 73 

Nightly, from their azure towers, 5 

To keep watch above the flowers, 

In the midst of which all day 

The red sun-light lazily lay. 

Now each visitor shall confess 

The sad valley's restlessness. 10 

Nothing there is motionless — 

Nothing save the airs that brood 

Over the magic solitude. 



With a visage full of meaning Now the unhappy shall confess 

O'erthe ii7tgi(arded Rov^ersiuere leaning: Nothing there is motionless: 

Or the sun ray dripped all red Helett, like thy human eye 

Thro^ the tulips overhead, The7'e the iineasy violets lie — 30 

Then grezu paler as it fell 25 There the reedy grass doth wave 

On the quiet Asphodel. Over the old forgotten grave — 

[24 the: tall (S.L.M.). 

27-4<J For these lines S.L.M. substitutes the following: 

Now each visiter shall confess 
Nothing there is motionless : 
Nothing save the airs that brood 
O'er the encha?tted solitude, 
Save the airs with pinions furled 
That slumber o^er that valley-world. 
No wind in Heaven, and lo I the trees 
Do roll like seas, /« Northern breeze. 
Around the stormy Hebrides — 
No wind in Heaven, and clouds do fly, 
Rustliiig everlastingly. 
Thro' the terror-stricken sky, 
Rolling, like a waterfall. 
O'er th' horizoti' s fiery wall — 
And Helett, like thy human eye, 
Low crouched on Eaj'th, some violets lie, 
And, nearer Heaven, some lilies wave 
All banner-like, above a grave. 
And one by 07ie, from out their tops 
Eternal dews come down in drops, 
Ah, one by one, from off their stems 
Eternal dews come down in gems !] 



74 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees 

That palpitate like the chill seas 15 

Around the misty Hebrides ! 

Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven 

That rustle through the unquiet Heaven 

Uneasily, from morn till even, 

Over the violets there that lie 20 

In myriad types of the human eye — 

Over the lilies there that wave 

And weep above a nameless grave ! 

They wave : — from out their fragrant tops 

Eternal dews come down in drops. 25 

They weep : — from off their delicate stems 

Perennial tears descend in gems. 

(1831) 



One by one from the tree top 
There the eternal dews do drop — 
There the vagtce and dreamy trees 
Do roll like seas in 7iorthern breeze 
Around the stormy Hebrides — 
There the gorgeous clouds do fly. 
Rustling eve7iastingly, 
Th7vugh the terror-stricken sky, 
Rolling like a waterfall 
O'er th'' horizo7t' s fiery wall — 
There the moon doth shine by night 
With a most unsteady light — 
There the sun doth reel by day 
" Over the hills and far away" 



18 rustle: i-ustles {A.W.R.). 

19 Uneasily: Unceasingly [A. W.R., B.f.). 
27 A. W.R. adds the following lines : 

They wave; they weep ; and the tears, as they well 
From the depth of each pallid lily-bell. 
Give a trickle and a tinkle and a knell. 



THE COLISEUM 75 

THE COLISEUM 

Type of the antique Rome ! Rich reliquary 

Of lofty contemplation left to Time 

By buried centuries of pomp and power ! 

At length — ■ at length — after so many days 

Of weary pilgrimage and burning thirst 5 

(Thirst for the springs of lore that in thee lie), 

I kneel, an altered and an humble man, 

Amid thy shadows, and so drink within 

My very soul thy grandeur, gloom, and glory ! 

Vastness ! and Age ! and Memories of Eld ! 10 

Silence ! and Desolation ! and dim Night ! 

I feel ye now — I feel ye in your strength — 

O spells more sure than e'er Judaean king 

Taught in the gardens of Gethsemane ! 

O charms more potent than the rapt Chaldee 15 

Ever drew down from out the quiet stars ! 

Here, where a hero fell, a column falls ! 

Here, where the mimic eagle glared in gold, 

A midnight vigil holds the swarthy bat ! 

Here, where the dames of Rome their gilded hair 20 

Waved to the wind, now wave the reed and thistle ! 



Title The Coliseum. A Prize Foe /ii [S.L.M.,S.E.P.), Coliseum (P. P. A.). 

8 Amid: Within {P. P. A.). 

11 S.L.M. inserts after this Hne : 

Gaunt vestibules ! and pkatitom-peopled aisles I 

20 gilded: yellow (S.L.M.). 

21 S.L.M. inserts after this line the following: 

Here, where on ivory couch the Ccesar sate. 
On bed of moss lies gloating the foul adder. 

P. P. A. makes a similar insertion, but reads golden throne instead of ivory 
couch. 



76 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Here, where on golden throne the monarch lolled, 

Glides, spectre-like, unto his marble home, 

Lit by the wan light of the horne'd moon. 

The swift and silent lizard of the stones ! 25 

But stay ! these walls — these ivy-clad arcades — 

These mouldering plinths — these sad and blackened shafts — 

These vague entablatures — this crumbling frieze — 

These shattered cornices ■ — this wreck — this ruin — 

These stones — alas ! these gray stones — are they all — 30 

All of the famed and the colossal left 

By the corrosive Hours to Fate and me ? 

" Not all " — the Echoes answer me — " not all ! 

Prophetic sounds and loud, arise forever 

From us, and from all Ruin, unto the wise, 35 

As melody from Memnon to the Sun. 

We rule the hearts of mightiest men — we rule 

With a despotic sway all giant minds. 

We are not impotent — we pallid stones. 

Not all our power is gone — not all our fame — 40 

Not all the magic of our high renown — 

Not all the wonder that encircles us — 

Not all the mysteries that in us lie — 

Not all the memories that hang upon 

And cling around about us as a garment, 45 

Clothing us in a robe of more than glory." 

(1833) 



26 These crumdling walls : these tottering arcadLes (S.L.Af.) ; BmI hold i 
■these dark, these perishing arcades [P.P. A.). 
28 crumbling: broken {S.L.JIL, P.P.A.). 
31 famed : great {S.L.M.), grand (S.E.P.), pvud [P. P. A.). 

35 unto : to (P.P.A.). 

36 melody: in old days (S.L.M.). 
39 impotent: desolate {S.L.M.). 



TO ONE IN PARADISE 'J^ 



TO ONE IN PARADISE 



Thou wast that all to me, love, 
For which my soul did pine — 

A. green isle in the sea, love, 
A fountain and a shrine. 

All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers. 
And all the flowers were mine. 

Ah, dream too bright to last ! 

Ah, starry Hope ! that didst arise 
But to be overcast ! 

A voice from out the Future cries, 
" On ! on ! " — but o'er the Past 

(Dim gulf !) my spirit hovering lies 
Mute, motionless, aghast ! 

For, alas ! alas ! with me 

The light of Life is o'er ! 
No more — no more — - no more — 

(Such language holds the solemn sea 



Title To lanthe in Heaven (B.G.M.); omitted in G.L.B., S.L.M., 
Tales [1S40], B.J. [June 7, 1845], the poem in these editions being incor- 
porated in The Assignatioji. 

I that all: all that (all other texts save G.L.B., S.L.M., B.G.M., and 
B.J. Uune 7, 1845])- 

5 with fairy fruits and: rotnid with tvild {G.L.B.), around about with 
{S.L.M., B.G.M., Tales [1840]). 

6 all the flowers : the flowers — M^_j/ all {S.L.M., B. G.M., Tales [1840]). 

7 But the dream — zV cojild not last (G.L.B., S.L.M., B.G.M., Tales 
[1840]). 

8 Ah: Oh [S.M.); F^?/;;^- hope ! thou didst arise (G.L.B.); And the 
starofUo^e did rise {S.L.M., B. G.M., Tales [1840]). 

II " On ! on ! " — but : Onward ! while ( G. L. B., S. L.M., B. G. J/., Tales 
[1840]), Onzvard ! — hnt {B.J. [June 7, 1845]). 

15 The light of Life: Ambition— all (G.L.B., S.L.M., B.G.M., Tales 
[1840]). 

16 Omitted in BJ. [May 10, 1845]. 

17 solemn: breaking {G.L.B.) . 



78 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

To the sands upon the shore) 

Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree, 
Or the stricken eagle soar ! 20 

And all my days are trances, 
And all my nightly dreams 
Are where thy grey eye glances, 

And where thy footstep gleams — 
In what ethereal dances, 25 

By what eternal streams. 

(1834) 
HYMN 

At morn — at noon — at twilight dim — 
Maria ! thou hast heard my hymn ! 
In joy and wo — in good and ill — 
Mother of God. be with me still ! 



21 And: .^"<w [B.J. [June 7, 1845]); days: hours {G.L.B., S.L.M., 
B.G.M., Tales [1840], B.J. [June 7, 1S45]). 
23 grey : dark (all other texts). 

26 what: far (G.L.B.); eternal: Italian {G.L.B., S.L.M., Tales [1840], 
B.J. [June 7, 1845]). After this line, S.L.M., Tales [1840], and B.J. 
[June 7, 1S45] ■^'^^ ^he following: 

Alas ! for that accursed time 

They bore thee o'er the bilhnv, 
From Love to titled age and crime. 

And an unholy pilhno — 
From me, and from our misty clime, 
Where weeps the silver willoiv ! 
G.L.B. has the same, except that it reads me for Zcrv in line 3, and Love 
for me in line 5. 

Title Catholic Hymn [B.J.. 1845) : without title in S.L.J/., B. G..V., and 
Tales [1S40], being there incorporated in the story Morella. 
1 S.L.J/, prefixes the following lines: 

Sancta Maria ! turn thine eyes 
Upon the sinner's sacrifice 
Of fervent prayer, and humble love. 
From thy holy throne above. 
B. G.M. and Tales [1840] make a similar addition, but read a for the in the 
second line. 



TO ¥ 79 

When the Hours flew brightly by, s 

And not a cloud obscured the sky, 

My soul, lest it should truant be, 

Thy grace did guide to thine and thee ; 

Now, when storms of Fate o'ercast 

Darkly my Present and my Past, lo 

Let my Future radiant shine 

With sweet hopes of thee and thine ! 

(1835) 

TO F 

Beloved ! amid the earnest woes 

That crowd around my earthly path — 

(Drear path, alas ! where grows 

Not even one lonely rose) — 

My soul at least a solace hath 5 

In dreams of thee, and therein knows 

An Eden of bland repose. 

And thus thy memory is to me 

Like some enchanted far-off isle 
In some tumultuous sea — 10 



5 the: my {S.L.M., B.G.Jl/., Tales [1840]); brightly: gently {S.L.M., 
B.G.M., Tales [1S40]). 

6 And no storms were in the sky {S.L.AL, B. G.M., Tales [1840]). 

8 grace: love [S.L.M., B.G.M., Tales [1840]). 

9 storms: cloicds (S.L.M., B.G.AL, Tales [1840]). 

10 Darkly: All (S.L.AL, B.G.M., Tales [1S40]). 

Title To Mary (S.L.M.), To One Departed (Graham's, S.M.). The order 
of the stanzas is inverted in Gj-aAam's and S.M. 

1 Jl/an', amid the cares — the woes (S.L.Jl/.) ; Bbr 'mid the earnest cares 
and woes (Gra/iam's, S.M.). 

2 That crowd: Crotuding (S.L.M.). 

3 Drear: Sad (S.L.M., Graham's, S. AT.). 

7 bland: sweet (S.L.M.). 

8 And thus: Seraph (Graham's, S.M.). 



8o THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Some ocean throbbing far and free 

With storms — but where meanwhile 
Serenest skies continually 
Just o'er that one bright island smile. 

(1835) 
TO F s S. O d 

Thou wouldst be loved ? — then let thy heart 

From its present pathway part not ! 
Being everything which now thou art, 

Be nothing which thou art not. 
So with the world thy gentle ways, 

Thy grace, thy more than beauty, 
Shall be an endless theme of praise, 

And love — a simple dutv. 

(1835) 

SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 
An Unpublished Drama 
I. 
ROME. A hall in a palace. Alessandra ^i';/// CastiCxLIONE 
Alessandra. Thou art sad, Castiglione. 
Castiglione. Sad ! — not I. 

Oh, Em the happiest, happiest man in Rome ! 
A few days more, thou knowest, my Alessandra, 
Will make thee mine. Oh, I am ver\' happy ! 



11 Some lake beset as lake can be (S.L..V.); Some ocean 7Jexed as it 
may be (Graham's, S.M.). 

Title Lines Written in an Album {S.L.M.), To {B.G.M.), To 

F {B.J.). Printed as two quatrains in S.L.M. 

1 Eliza ! — let th.y generous heart (S. L. M.) ; Fair maiden, let ih.y generous 
heart [B. G.M.). 5-8 Omitted in B.J. 

6 grace, thy more than : unassuming [S.L.M., B. G.M.). 

7 Shall be an endless: And truth^s\v2\\ be a {S.L.M.), Thy truth — 
shall be a (B.G.M.). 

8 Forever— ^nd love a duty (S.L.M., B. G.M.). 
Title Scenes from an Unpublished Drama (S.L.M.). 



SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 8i 

Alessandra. Methinks thou hast a singular way of showing 5 
Thy happiness ! — what ails thee, cousin of mine ? 
Why didst thou sigh so deeply ? 

Castiglione. Did I sigh ? 

I was not conscious of it. It is a fashion, 
A silly — a most silly fashion I have 
When I am very happy. Did I sigh ? [Stghmg] lo 

Alessandra. Thou didst. Thou art not well. Thou hast 
indulged 
Too much of late, and I am vexed to see it. 
Late hours and wine, Castiglione, — these 
Will ruin thee ! thou art already altered — 

Thy looks are haggard — nothing so wears away 1 5 

The constitution as late hours and wine. 

Castiglione. \_Musing\ Nothing, fair cousin, nothing — not 
even deep sorrow — 
Wears it away like evil hours and wine. 
I will amend. 

Alessandra. Do it I I would have thee drop 
Thy riotous company, too — fellows low-born — 20 

111 suit the like with old Di Broglio's heir 
And Alessandra's husband. 

Castiglione. I will drop them. 

Alessandra. Thou wilt — thou must. Attend thou also more 
To thy dress and equipage — they are over plain 
For thy lofty rank and fashion — much depends 25 

Upon appearances. 

Castiglione. I '11 see to it. 

Alessandra. Then see to it ! — pay more attention, sir. 
To a becoming carriage — much thou wantest 
In dignity. 

Castiglione. Much, much, oh much I want 
In proper dignity. 

23 Thou wilt: Omitted in 6". Z.il/. 



82 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Alessandra. \HaughtUy\ Thou mockest me, sir ! 30 

Castiglione. \Abstracted1y\ Sweet, gentle Lalage ! 

Alessandra. Heard I aright ? 

I spealc to him — he speaks of Lalage ! 

Sir Count ! \_places her hand on his shouldci^ what art thou dream- 
ing ? he 's not well ! 
What ails thee, sir ? 

Castiglione. \Sfa!ihig\ Cousin ! fair cousin ! — madam ! 
I crave thy pardon — indeed I am not well. 35 

Your hand from off my shoulder, if you please — 
This air is most oppressive ! — Madam — the Duke ! 

Enter Di Broglio 

Dr Broglio. My son, I've news for thee! — hey? — what's 
the matter ? [ Observitig Alessandra] 

I' the pouts ? Kiss her, Castiglione ! kiss her. 
You dog ! and make it up, I say, this minute ! 40 

I 've news for you both. Politian is expected 
Hourly in Rome — Politian, Earl of Leicester ! 
We '11 have him at the wedding. 'T is his first visit 
To the imperial city. 

Alessandra. What ! Politian 

Of Britain, Earl of Leicester ? 

Di Broglio. The same, my love. 45 

We '11 have him at the wedding. A man quite young 
In years, but grey in fame. I have not seen him. 
But Rumor speaks of him as of a prodigy 
Pre-eminent in arts and arms, and wealth, 
And high descent. We '11 have him at the wedding. 50 

Alessandra. I have heard much of this Politian. 
Gay, volatile, and giddy — is he not ? 
And little given to thinking. 

Di Broglio. Far from it, love. 

No branch, they say, of all philosophy 



SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 83 

So deep abstruse he has not mastered it. 55 

Learned as few are learned. 

Alessandra. 'T is very strange ! 

I have known men have seen Politian 
And sought his company. They speak of him 
As of one who entered madly into life, 
Drinking the cup of pleasure to the dregs. 60 

Castiglione. Ridiculous ! Now / have seen Politian 
And know him well — nor learned nor mirthful he. 
He is a dreamer and a man shut out 
From common passions. 

Dr Broglio. Children, we disagree. 

Let us go forth and taste the fragrant air 65 

Of the garden. Did I dream, or did I hear 
Politian was a melancholy man ? \Exeu7ii\ 

II. 

A lady's apa?tment, with a window open and looking ifito a garden. 
Lalage, in deep mourning, reading at a table on which lie 
some books and a hand mirror. In the background, Jacinta 
{a serva?it maid) leans carelessly upon a chair. 

Lalage. Jacinta ! is it thou ? 

Jacinta. \_Pertly] Yes, Ma'am, I'm here. 

Lalage. I did not know, Jacinta, you were in waiting. 
Sit down ! — let not my presence trouble you — 
Sit down ! — for I am humble, most humble. 

Jacinta. \_Aside'\ 'T is time. 5 

[Jacinta seats herself in a sidelong manner upoti the chair, rest- 
i?ig her elbows upon the back, and regarding her mistress 
with a co7itemptuous look. Lalage coTitinues to read] 
Lalage. " It in another climate," so he said, 
" Bore a bright golden flower, but not i' this soil ! " 

[^Pauses — tur?is over some leaves, afid resumes] 



Stage Directions S.L.lM. and 1845 insert ROMEzX beginning. 



84 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

" No lingering winters there, nor snow, nor shower — 

But Ocean ever to refresh mankind 

Breathes the shrill spirit of the western wind." lo 

Oh, beautiful ! — most beautiful ! — how like 

To what my fevered soul doth dream of Heaven ! 

O happy land ! [jPaiises] She died ! — the maiden died ! 

O still more happy maiden who couldst die ! 

Jacinta ! 

[Jacinta returns no answer, and Lalage presently resumes'\ 
Again ! — a similar tale 15 

Told of a beauteous dame beyond the sea ! 
Thus speaketh one Ferdinand in the words of the play — 
" She died full young " — one Bossola answers him — 
" I think not so — her infelicity 

Seemed to have years too many " — Ah, luckless lady ! 20 

Jacinta ! \_StiIl no ans7aer'\ 

Here 's a far sterner stor}' 
But like — oh, very like in its despair — 
Of that Egyptian queen, winning so easily 
A thousand hearts — losing at length her own. 
She died. Thus endeth the histor}^ — and her maids 25 

Lean over her and weep — two gentle maids 
With gentle names — Eiros and Charmion ! 
Rainbow and Dove ! — Jacinta ! 

Jacinta. [/'(^'///j-///)'] Madam, what zj- it? 

Lalage. Wilt thou, my good Jacinta, be so kind 
As go down in the library and bring me 30 

The Holy Evangelists. 

Jacinta. Pshaw ! [£xit] 

Lalage. If there be balm 

For the wounded spirit in Gilead it is there i 
Dew in the night-time of my bitter trouble 
Will there be found — " dew sweeter far than that 
Which hangs like chains of pearl on Hermon hill." 35 

{Re-enter Jacinta, and throws a volume on the table'] 



SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 85 

Jacinta. There, ma'am, 's the book. Indeeds he is very trouble- 
some. [Aside] 

Lalage. [Asfoms/ied] What didst thou say, Jacinta ? Have I 
done aught 
To grieve thee or to vex thee .'' — I am sorry. 
For thou hast served me long and ever been 
Trustworthy and respectful. \Resumes her readwg] 

Jacinta. I can't believe 40 

She has any more jewels — no — no — she gave me all. \_Aside] 

Lalage. What didst thou say, Jacinta ? Now I bethink me 
Thou hast not spoken lately of thy wedding. 
How fares good Ugo ? — and when is it to be ? 
Can I do aught ? — is there no farther aid 45 

Thou needest, Jacinta ? 

Jacinta. " Is there no farther aid ! " 

That 's meant for me. [Aside] Fm sure, Madam, you need not 
Be always throwing those jewels in my teeth. 

Lalage. Jewels ! Jacinta, — now indeed, Jacinta, 
I thought not of the jewels. 

Jacinta. Oh ! perhaps not ! 50 

But then I might have sworn it. After all, 
There 's Ugo says the ring is only paste. 
For he 's sure the Count Castiglione never 
Would have given a real diamond to such as you ; 
And at the best Fm certain, Madam, you cannot 55 

Have use for jewels fwzc. But I might have sworn it. [jEx/t] 

[Lalage bursts into tears and leans her head upon the table 
— -after a shoti pause raises it] 

Lalage. Poor Lalage ! — and is it come to this ? 
Thy servant maid ! — but courage ! — 't is but a viper 
Whom thou hast cherished to sting thee to the soul ! 

[Taking up the fnirror] 
Ha ! here at least 's a friend — too much a friend 60 

In earlier days — a friend will not deceive thee. 
Fair mirror and true ! now tell me (for thou canst) 



86 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

A tale — a pretty tale — and heed thou not 

Though it be rife with woe. It answers me. 

It speaks of sunken eyes, and wasted cheeks, 65 

And Beauty long deceased — remembers me 

Of Joy departed — Hope, the Seraph Hope, 

Inurned and entombed ! — now, in a tone 

Low, sad, and solemn, but most audible. 

Whispers of early grave untimely yawning 70 

For ruined maid. Fair mirror and true ! thou liest not ! 

Thou hast no end to gain — no heart to break — 

Castiglione lied who said he loved — 

Thou true — he false ! — false ! — false ! 

[ While she speaks^ a Monk enters her apartment, and ap- 
proaches unobserved^ 

Monk. Refuge thou hast, 

Sweet daughter ! in Heaven. Think of eternal things ! 75 

Give up thy soul to penitence, and pray ! 

Lalage. [Arising hurriedly\ I cannot pray 1 — My soul is at 
war with God ! 
The frightful sounds of merriment below 
Disturb my senses — go ! I cannot pray — 

The sweet airs from the garden worry me ! 80 

Thy presence grieves me — go ! — thy priestly raiment 
Fills me with dread — thy ebony crucifix 
With horror and awe ! 

Monk. Think of thy precious soul ! 

LalAge. Think of my early days ! — think of my father 
And mother in Heaven ! think of our quiet home, 85 

And the rivulet that ran before the door ! 
Think of my little sisters ! — think of them ! 
And think of me ! — think of my trusting love 
And confidence — his vows — my ruin — think — think 
Of my unspeakable misery ! — begone ! 90 

Yet stay ! yet stay ! — what was it thou saidst of prayer 



SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 8/ 

And penitence ? Didst thou not speak of faith 
And vows before the throne ? 

Monk. I did. 

Lalage. 'T is well. 

There is a vow were fitting should be made — 
A sacred vow, imperative, and urgent, 95 

A solemn vow ! 

Monk. Daughter, this zeal is well ! 

Lalage. Father, this zeal is anything but well ! 
Hast thou a crucifix fit for this thing ? 
A crucifix whereon to register 

This sacred vow ? \_IIe hands her his own] 
Not that — Oh ! no ! — no ! — no — ! [Shuddering] 

Not that ! Not that — I tell thee, holy man, loi 

Thy raiments and thy ebony cross affright me ! 
Stand back ! I have a crucifix myself, — 
I have a crucifix ! Methinks 't were fitting. 

The deed — the vow — the symbol of the deed — 105 

And the deed's register should tally, father ! 

\Draws a cross-handled dagger and raises it on high] 
Behold the cross wherewith a vow like mine 
Is written in Heaven ! 

Monk. Thy words are madness, daughter, 

And speak a purpose unholy — thy lips are livid — 
Thine eyes are wild — tempt not the wrath divine ! 1 10 

Pause ere too late ! — oh, be not — be not rash ! 
Swear not the oath — oh, swear it not ! 

Lalage. 'T is sworn ! 



99 This sacred vow: A vow — a vow {S.L.M.), A pious vow (B./.). 



88 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

III. 
An apariment in a palace. Politian and Baldazzar 

Baldazzar. Arouse thee now, Politian ! 

Thou must not — nay indeed, indeed, thou shalt not — 
Give way unto these humors. Be thyself ! 
Shake off the idle fancies that beset thee, 
And live, for now thou diest ! 

Politian. Not so, Baldazzar I 5 

Surely I live. 

Baldazzar. Politian, it doth grieve me 
To see thee thus. 

Politian. Baldazzar, it doth grieve me 

To give thee cause for grief, my honored friend. 
Command me, sir ! what wouldst thou have me do ? 
At thy behest thou wilt shake off that nature lo 

Which from my forefathers I did inherit. 
Which with my mother's milk I did imbibe, 
And be no more Politian, but some other. 
Command me, sir ! 

Baldazzar. To the field then — to the field — 

To the senate or the field. 

Politian. Alas ! alas ! 15 

There is an imp would follow me even there I 
There is an imp hath followed me even there ! 
There is — what voice was that ? 

Baldazzar. I heard it not. 

I heard not any voice except thine own, 
And the echo of thine own. 

Politian. Then I but dreamed. 20 

Baldazzar. Give not thy soul to dreams : the camp — the court 
Befit thee — Fame awaits thee — Glory calls — 
And her, the trumpet-tongued, thou wilt not hear 



Stage Directions S.L.M. inserts ROME at beginning, and his friend at 
the end. 6 Surely I live: I live— I live {S.L.M.). 



SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 89 

In hearkening to imaginary sounds 
And phantom voices. 

PoLiTiAN. It is a phantom voice ! 25 

Didst thou not hear it then ? 

Baldazzar. I heard it not. 

PoLiTiAN. Thou heardst it not ! — Baldazzar speak no more 
To me, Politian, of thy camps and courts. 
Oh ! I am sick, sick, sick, even unto death. 

Of the hollow and high-sounding vanities 30 

Of the populous Earth ! Bear with me yet awhile ! 
Wt have been boys together — school-fellows — 
And now are friends — yet shall not be so long — 
For in the eternal city thou shalt do me 

A kind and gentle office, and a Power — 35 

A Power august, benignant and supreme — 
Shall then absolve thee of all farther duties 
Unto thy friend. 

Baldazzar. Thou speakest a fearful riddle 
I will not understand. 

Politian. Yet now as Fate 

Approaches, and the Hours are breathing low, 40 

The sands of Time are changed to golden grains, 
And dazzle me, Baldazzar. Alas ! alas ! 
I cannot die, having within my heart 
So keen a relish for the beautiful 

As hath been kindled within it. Methinks the air 45 

Is calmer now than it was wont to be — 
Rich melodies are floating in the winds — 
A rarer loveliness bedecks the earth — 
And with a holier lustre the quiet moon 

Sitteth in heaven. — • Hist ! hist ! thou canst not say 50 

Thou hearest not now, Baldazzar ? 

Baldazzar. Indeed I hear not. 

Politian. Not hear it! — listen now! listen! — the faintest sound 
And yet the sweetest that ear ever heard I 



90 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

A lady's voice ! — and sorrow in the tone ! 

Baldazzar, it oppresses me like a spell ! 55 

Again ! — again ! — how solemnly it falls 

Into my heart of hearts ! that eloquent voice 

Surely I never heard — yet it were well 

Had I but heard it with its thrilling tones 

In earlier days ! 

Baldazzar. I myself hear it now. 60 

Be still ! — the voice, if I mistake not greatly, 
Proceeds from yonder lattice — which you may see 
Very plainly through the window — it belongs, 
Does it not ? unto this palace of the Duke. 

The singer is vmdoubtedly beneath 65 

The roof of his Excellency — and perhaps 
Is even that Alessandra of whom he spoke 
As the betrothed of Castiglione, 
His son and heir. 

PoLiTiAN. Be still ! — it comes again I 

Voice. \yen,' fainfl}-\ 

" And is thy heart so strong 70 

As for to leave me thus 
Who hath loved thee so long 
In wealth and wo among ? 
And is thy heart so strong 

As for to leave me thus ? 75 

Say nay — say nay ! " 
Baldazzar. The song is English, and I have oft heard it 
In merry England — never so plaintively — 
Hist 1 hist 1 it comes again ! 
Voice. \More loudly\ 

"Is it so strong 
As for to leave me thus 80 



57 that eloquent voice : that voice — that voice (S.L.Jl/.). 

58 Surely I: I surely (S.L.M.). 63 it: that lattice (S.L.M.). 



SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 91 

Who hath loved thee so long 
In wealth and wo among ? 
And is thy heart so strong 
As for to leave me thus ? 

Say nay — say nay ! " 85 

Baldazzar. 'T is hushed and all is still ! 
POLITIAN. All is not still. 

Baldazzar. Let us go down. 

PoLiTiAN. Go down, Baldazzar, go ! 

Baldazzar. The hour is growing late — the Duke awaits us, — 
Thy presence is expected in the hall 

Below. What ails thee, Earl Politian ? 90 

Voice. \_Distinctly\ 

" Who hath loved thee so long, 
In wealth and wo among. 
And is thy heart so strong ? 
Say nay — say nay ! " 

Baldazzar. Let us descend ! — 't is time. Politian, give 95 
These fancies to the wind. Remember, pray. 
Your bearing lately savored much of rudeness 
Unto the Duke. Arouse thee ! and remember I 

Politian. Remember ? I do. Lead on ! \ do remember. 

\^Going\ 
Let us descend. Believe me, I would give, 100 

Freely would give the broad lands of my earldom 
To look upon the face hidden by yon lattice — 
" To gaze upon that veiled face, and hear 
Once more that silent tongue." 

Baldazzar. Let me beg you, sir, 

Descend with me — the Duke may be offended. 105 

Let us go down, I pray you. 

Voice. \_LoudIy'\ ^^ Say nay — say?iay/" 



100 Believe me: Baldazzar! oh {S.L.M.). 



92 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN FOE 

FoLiTiAN. [Asidi\ 'T is strange I — "t is very strange — me- 
thought the voice 
Chimed in with my desires and bade me stay ! 

[A/>/>roaching the wind<nt>\ 
Sweet voice ! I heed thee, and will surely stay. 
Now be this Fancy, by Heaven, or be it Fate, no 

Still will I not descend. Baldazzar, make 
Apology unto the Duke for me ; 
I go not down to-night. 

Baldazzar. Your lordship's pleasure 

Shall be attended to. Good-night, Politian. 

PoLiTiAX. Good-night, mv friend, good-night. 115 

IV. 
The gardens of a palace — Moonlight. Lalage and Politian 

Lalage. And dost thou speak of love 
To »/<f, Politian ? — dost thou speak of love 
To Lalage ? — ah, wo — ah. wo is me ! 
This mocker)- is most cniel — most cruel indeed ! 

Politian. Weep not ! oh, sob not thus ! — thy bitter tears 5 
Will madden me. Oh, mourn not, Lalage — 
Be comforted ! I know — I know it all, 
And still I speak of love. Look at me, brightest 
And beautiful Lalage ! — turn here thine eyes ! 
Thou askest me if I could speak of love, 10 

Knowing what I know, and seeing what I have seen. 
Thou askest me that — and thus I answer thee — 
Thus on my bended knee I answer thee. \^Kneeling\ 

Sweet Lalage, / love thee — loz^e thee — love thee ; 
Thro' good and ill — thro' weal and woe I love thee. 15 

Not mother, with her first-bom on her knee. 



5 sob: 7i<e^p (S.L.J/.). 

6 mourn: «v<^ (S.L.J/.). 

9 turn here thine eyes : and listen to me .' (6". Z. J/.) 



SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 93 

Thrills with intenser love than I for thee. 

Not on God's altar, in any time or clime, 

Burned there a holier fire than burneth now 

Within my spirit for thee. And do I love ? [Arising] 20 

Even for thy woes I love thee — even for thy woes — 

Thy beauty and thy woes. 

Lalage. Alas, proud Earl, 

Thou dost forget thyself, remembering me ! 
How, in thy father's halls, among the maidens 
Pure and reproachless, of thy princely line, 25 

Could the dishonored Lalage abide .-" 
Thy wife, and with a tainted memory — 
My seared and blighted name, how would it tally 
With the ancestral honors of thy house. 
And with thy glory .? 

PoLiTiAN. Speak not to me of glory 1 30 

I hate — I loathe the name ; I do abhor 
The unsatisfactory and ideal thing. 
Art thou not Lalage and I Politian } 
Do I not love — art thou not beautiful — 

What need we more ? Ha ! glory ! — now speak not of it : 35 

By all I hold most sacred and most solemn — 
By all my wishes now — my fears hereafter — 
By all I scorn on earth and hope in heaven 
There is no deed I would more glory in, 

Than in thy cause to scoff at this same glory 40 

And trample it under foot. What matters it — 
What matters it, my fairest, and my best, 
That we go down unhonored and forgotten 
Into the dust — so we descend together. 
Descend together — and then — and then perchance — 45 

Lalage. Why dost thou pause, Politian 1 



Speak 7iot — speak not of glory! {S.L.M.). 



94 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

PoLiTiAN. And then perchance 

Arise together, Lalage, and roam 
The stariy and quiet dwellings of the blest, 
And still — 

Lalage. Why dost thou pause, Politian ? 

PoLiTiAN. And still together- — together. 

Lalage. Now, Earl of Leicester ! 50 

Thou lovest me, and in my heart of hearts 
I feel thou lovest me truly. 

Politian. Oh, Lalage ! [^Throwing himself upon his hnee] 

And lovest thou fne ? 

Lalage. Hist ! hush ! within the gloom 

Of yonder trees methought a figure past — 

A spectral figure, solemn, and slow, and noiseless- — 55 

Like the grim shadow Conscience, solemn and noiseless. 

[ Walks across and returfis'] 
I was mistaken — 't was but a giant bough 
Stirred by the autumn wind. Politian ! 

Politian. My Lalage — my love ! why art thou moved ? 
Why dost thou turn so pale ? Not Conscience' self, 60 

Far less a shadow which thou likenest to it, 
Should shake the firm spirit thus. But the night wind 
Is chilly — and these melancholy boughs 
Throw over all things a gloom. 

Lalage. Politian ! 

Thou speakest to me of love. Knowest thou the land 65 

With which all tongues are busy — a land new found — 
Miraculously found by one of Genoa — 
A thousand leagues within the golden west ? 
A fairy land of flowers, and fruit, and sunshine. 
And crystal lakes, and over-arching forests, 70 

And mountains, around whose towering summits the winds 
Of Heaven untrammelled flow — which air to breathe 
Is Happiness now, and will be Freedom hereafter 
In days that are to come ? 



SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 95 

PoLiTiAN. O, wilt thou — wilt thou 

Fly to that Paradise — my Lalage, wilt thou 75 

Fly thither with me ? There Care shall be forgotten, 
And Sorrow shall be no more, and Eros be all. 
And life shall then be mine, for I will live 
For thee, and in thine eyes — and thou shalt be 
No more a mourner — but the radiant Joys 80 

Shall wait upon thee, and the angel Hope 
Attend thee ever ; and I will kneel to thee 
And worship thee, and call thee my beloved, 
My own, my beautiful, my love, my wife. 

My all ; — oh, wilt thou — wilt thou, Lalage, 85 

Fly thither with me ? 

Lalage. A deed is to be done — 

Castiglione lives 1 

PoLiTiAN. And he shall die ! [Exit] 

Lalage. \After a patise] And — he — shall — die ! — alas ! 
Castiglione die ? Who spoke the words ? 

Where am I .? — ■ what was it he said ? — Politian ! 90 

Thou art not gone — thou art not gone, Politian. 
I feel thou art not gone — yet dare not look. 
Lest I behold thee not ; thou couldst not go 
With those words upon thy lips — O, speak to me ! 
And let me hear thy voice — one word — one word, 95 

To say thou art not gone, — one little sentence, 
To say how thou dost scorn — how thou dost hate 
My womanly weakness. Ha ! ha ! thou art not gone — 

speak to me ! I kneia thou wouldst not go ! 

1 knew thou wouldst not, couldst not, durst not go. 100 
Villain, thou art not gone — thou mockest me ! 

And thus I clutch thee — thus ! He is gone, he is gone — 

Gone — gone. Where am I ? 't is well — 't is very well ! 

So that the blade be keen — the blow be sure, 

'T is well, 't is very well — alas ! alas 1 [Exit'] 105 



96 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



The suburbs. Politian alone 

PoLiTiAN. This weakness grows upon me. I am faint, 
And much I fear me ill — it will not do 
To die ere I have lived ! — Stay — stay thy hand, 
O Azrael, yet awhile ! — Prince of the Powers 
Of Darkness and the Tomb, O pity me 1 S 

O pity me ! let me not perish now, 
In the budding of my Paradisal Hope ! 
Give me to live yet — yet a little while : 
'T is I who pray for life — I who so late 
Demanded but to die ! — what sayeth the Count ? lo 

Enter Baldazzar 

Baldazzar. That knowing no cause of quarrel or of feud 
Between the Earl Politian and himself. 
He doth decline your cartel. 

Politian. What didst thou say ? 

What answer was it you brought me, good Baldazzar ? 
With what excessive fragrance the zephyr comes 15 

Laden from yonder bowers ! — a fairer day, 
Or one more worthy Italy, methinks 
No mortal eyes have seen ! — what said the Count ? 

Baldazzar. That he, Castiglione, not being aware 
Of any feud existing, or any cause 20 

Of quarrel between your lordship and himself 
Cannot accept the challenge. 

Politian. It is most true — 

All this is very true. When saw you, sir, 
When saw you now, Baldazzar, in the frigid 
Ungenial Britain which we left so lately, 25 



7 In the budding of my hopes — give me to live (S.L.M.). 



SCENES FROM '" POLITIAN " 97 

A heaven so calm as this — so utterly free 
From the evil taint of clouds ? — and he did say ? 

Baldazzar. No more, my lord, than I have told you, sir : 
The Count Castiglione will not fight, 
Having no cause for quarrel. 

PoLiTiAN. Now this is true — 30 

All very true. Thou art my friend, Baldazzar, 
And I have not forgotten it — thou 'It do me 
A piece of service ; wilt thou go back and say 
Unto this man, that I, the Earl of Leicester, 

Hold him a villain ? — thus much, I prythee, say 35 

Unto the Count — it is exceeding just 
He should have cause for quarrel. 

Baldazzar. My lord ! — my friend ! — 

PoLiTiAN. [Aside] 'T is he — he comes himself ! [Aloud] Thou 
reasonest well. 
I know what thou wouldst say — not send the message — ■ 
Well ! — I will think of it — I will not send it. 40 

Now prythee, leave me — hither doth come a person 
With whom affairs of a most private nature 
I would adjust. 

Baldazzar. I go — to-morrow we meet. 
Do we not ? — at the Vatican. 

PoLiTiAN. At the Vatican. [Exit Baldazzar] 

Enter Castiglione 

Castiglione. The Earl of Leicester here ! 45 

PoLiTiAN. I am the Earl of Leicester, and thou seest, 
Dost thou not ? that I am here. 



44 After this line, S.L.M. inserts ; 



If that -we meet at all, it were as well 
That I should meet htm in the Vatican — 
In the Vatican — within the holy walls 
Of the Vatican. 



98 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Castiglione. My lord, some strange, 

Some singular mistake — misunderstanding — 
Hath without doubt arisen : thou hast been urged 
Thereby, in heat of anger, to address 50 

Some words most unaccountable, in writing. 
To me, Castiglione ; the bearer being 
Baldazzar, Duke of Surrey. I am aware 
Of nothing which might warrant thee in this thing. 
Having given thee no offence. Ha ! — am I right ? 55 

'T was a mistake ? — undoubtedly — we all 
Do err at times. 

PoLiTiAN. Draw, villain, and prate no more ! 

Castiglione. Ha ! — draw ? — and villain ? have at thee then 
at once. 
Proud Earl ! {Drmvs] 

POLITIAN. \I)ra'wing\ Thus to the expiatoiy tomb, 
Untimely sepulchre, I do devote thee 60 

In the name of Lalage ! 

Castiglione. \Letting fall his sword and recoiling to the 

extremity of the stage'] 
Of Lalage ! 
Hold off — thy sacred hand — - avaunt I say ! 
Avaunt — I will not fight thee — indeed I dare not. 

PoLiTiAN. Thou wilt not fight with me didst say. Sir Count ? 
Shall I be baffled thus ? — now this is well. 65 

Didst say thou darest not ? Ha ! 

Castiglione. I dare not — dare not — 
Hold off thy hand — with that beloved name 
So fresh upon thy lips I will not fight thee — 
I cannot — dare not. 

58 then at once : have at thee then {S.L.M.). 

61 Stage Directions Lettmgfall: dropping (S.L.M.). 

62 Hold o^ — hold off \}k^ hand! — Avaunt I say! {S.L.M.). 

63 indeed I dare not: I dare not — dare not {S.L.M.). 
65 After this line S.L.M. inserts : 

Exceeding well ! — thou darest not fight with me ? 



SCENES FROM " POLITIAN " 99 

PoLiTiAN. Now by my halidom 

I do believe thee ! — coward, I do believe thee ! 70 

Castiglione. Ha ! — coward ! — this may not be ! 

\^Chitches his sivord and staggers towards Politian, but his 
purpose is changed before reaching him, and he falls 
upo?i his k?iee at the feet of the Earl'\ 

Alas ! my lord, 
It is — it is — most true. In such a cause 
I am the veriest coward. O pity me ! 

Politian. [ Greatly softe?ied'\ Alas ! — I do — indeed I pity 

thee. 
Castiglione. And Lalage — 

Politian. Scoundrel I — arise and die ! 75 

Castiglione. It needeth not be — thus — thus — O let me 
die 
Thus on my bended knee. It were most fitting 
That in this deep humiliation I perish. 
For in the fight I will not raise a hand 

Against thee, Earl of Leicester. Strike thou home — 80 

\_Baring his bosoni] 
Here is no let or hindrance to thy weapon — 
Strike home. I ?<:'/// not fight thee. 

Politian. Now 's Death and Hell ! 

Am I not — am I not sorely — grievously tempted 
To take thee at thy word ? But mark me, sir : 
Think not to fly me thus. Do thou prepare 85 

For public insult in the streets — before 
The eyes of the citizens. I 'II follow thee — 
Like an avenging spirit I '11 follow thee, 



70 After this line S. L. M. inserts : 

Thoii darest not I 

71 Alas! my lord : Alas! alas ! (S.L.M.). 

73 I am — I am — a coward. O pity me! (6'. Z..1/.). 



100 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Even unto death. Before those whom thou lovest — 

Before all Rome, I '11 taunt thee, villain — I '11 taunt thee, 90 

Dost hear ? with cowardice — thou wilt not fight me ? 

Thou liestl thou shalt ! [Exit] 

Castiglione. Now this indeed is just ! 

Most righteous, and most just, avenging Heaven ! 

(1835-1836) 

BRIDAL BALLAD 

The ring is on my hand, 

And the wreath is on my brow ; 
Satins and jewels grand 
Are all at my command, 

And I am happy now. 5 

And my lord he loves me well ; 

But, when first he breathed his vow, 
I felt my bosom swell — 
For the words rang as a knell. 
And the voice seemed his who fell 10 

In the battle down the dell, 

And who is happy now. 

But he spoke to re-assure me. 
And he kissed my pallid brow. 



93 Now this indeed is just! : Now this — ftow this is just [S.L.M.). 
Title Ballad {S.L.M., S.E.F.), Song of the Newly-Wedded (S.Af.). 
3 After this line, ^. Z. 3f. inserts the following : 

And many a rood 0/ land. 

6 He has loved me long and well (S. L. M., S. E. P.). 

7 But, when first: Atid, when [S.L.lM.], But, when (S.E.P.). 

9 rang as a knell : zuere his who fell (S.L.M.) ; as : like (S.E.F., B.J.). 

10 Omitted in S. L. M. 
13 But: And {S.L.M.). 



BRIDAL BALLAD lOi 

While a reverie came o'er me, 15 

And to the church-yard bore me, 
And I sighed to him before me 
(Thinking him dead D'Elormie), 
" Oh, I am happy now I " 

And thus the words were spoken, 20 

And this the plighted vow ; 
And, though my faith be broken, 
And, though my heart be broken, 
Here is a ring as token 

That I am happy now ! — 25 

Behold the golden token 

That proves me happy now I 

Would God I could awaken ! 
For I dream I know not how, 



15 While: But (S.L.M.). 

18 Omitted in S.L.M. 

19 After this Hne, S.L.M. inserts the following : 

And thus they said I plighted 

An irreTjocable vow — 
And my friends are all delighted ■ 
That his love I have requited — 
And my mind is much benighted 

If I am not happy now ! 

Lo I the ring is on my hand. 

And the wreath is on my brow — 
Satins and je'wels grand., 
And many a rood of land. 
Are all at my command, 

And I must be happy now ! 

20 / have spoken — / have spoken (S.L.M.), It was spoken — it was 
spoken (S.E.P.). 

21 They have registered the vow [S.L.M.], Quick they registered the vow 
{S.E.P.). 

24, 25 First inserted in the text in the Lorimer Graham copy of 1845. 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

And my soul is sorely shaken 30 

Lest an evil step be taken, — 
Lest the dead who is forsaken 
May not be happy now. 

(1837) 

SONNET — TO ZANTE 

Fair isle, that from the fairest of all flowers 

Thy gentlest of all gentle names dost take, 
How many memories of what radiant hours 

At sight of thee and thine at once awake ! 
How many scenes of what departed bliss ! 5 

How many thoughts of what entombe'd hopes ! 
How many visions of a maiden that is 

No more — no more upon thy verdant slopes ! 
No more! alas, that magical sad sound 

Transforming all ! Thy charms shall please no 7nore, — 10 
Thy memory no more I Accursed ground 

Henceforth I hold thy flower-enamelled shore, 
O hyacinthine isle ! O purple Zante ! 
" Isola d'oro ! Fior di Levante ! " 

<i837) 

THE HAUNTED PALACE 

In the greenest of our valleys 

By good angels tenanted, 
Once a fair and stately palace — • 

Radiant palace — reared its head. 



32 Lest: And [S.L.M., S.E.P.). 

Title [of The Haunted Palace'\ Omitted inB.G.M., Tales [1840], Tales 
[1845], ^"d Griswold [1847], the poem in each instance being printed as a 
part of The Fall of the House of Usher. 

4 Radiant: snow-white [B.AL, B.G.iM., Tales [1840], P.P. A.). 



THE HAUNTED PALACE 103 

In the monarch Thought's dominion, S 

It stood there ! 
Never seraph spread a pinion 

Over fabric half so fair ! 

Banners yellow, glorious, golden. 

On its roof did float and flow 10 

(This — all this — was in the olden 

Time long ago), 
And every gentle air that dallied, 

In that sweet day. 
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid, 15 

A winged odor went away. 

Wanderers in that happy valley, 

Through two luminous windows, saw 
Spirits moving musically. 

To a lute's well-tuned law, 20 

Round about a throne where, sitting, 

Porphyrogene ! 
In state his glory well befitting, 

The ruler of the realm was seen. 

And all with pearl and ruby glowing 25 

Was the fair palace door, 
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing, 

And sparkling evermore, 
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty 

Was but to sing, 3° 

In voices of surpassing beauty, 

The wit and wisdom of their king. 



7 a: Ais {B.M.). 

17 Wanderers: /^//wanderers (B.M.). 

24 ruler: sovereign (B.M., B.G.M., Tales [1840]). 

29 sweet: sole {B.G.M.). 



[04 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

But evil things, in robes of sorrow, 

Assailed the monarch's high estate. 
(Ah, let us mourn ! — for never morrow 35 

Shall down upon him, desolate !) 
And round about his home the glory 

That blushed and bloomed, 
Is but a dim-remembered story 

Of the old time entombed. 40 

And travellers, now, within that valley, 
Through the red-litten windows see 
, Vast forms that move fantastically 
To a discordant melody, 
While, like a ghastly rapid river, 45 

Through the pale door 
A hideous throng rush out forever. 
And laugh — but smile no more. 

(1839) 

SONNET — SILENCE 

There are some qualities — some incorporate things, 
That have a double life, which thus is made 

A type of that twin entity which springs 

From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade. 

There is a two-fold Silence — sea and shore — 5 

Body and soul. One dwells in lonely places. 
Newly with grass o'ergrown ; some solemn graces, 

Some human memories and tearful lore. 

Render him terrorless : his name 's "No More." 



45 ghastly rapid: rapid ghastly [B.M., B.G.M., Tales [1840], P.P. A. 
Tales [1845], Griswold [1847]). 

Title Silence. ^ Sonnet (^. C.^l/.). 

2 which thus is : life aptly [B. G.M., S.M.). 

3 A: The(B.G.M.,S.M.). 



THE CONQUEROR WORM 105 

He is the corporate Silence : dread him not 1 10 

No power hath he of evil in himself ; 
But should some urgent fate (untimely lot !) 

Bring thee to meet his shadow (nameless elf, 
That haunteth the lone regions where hath trod 
No foot of man), commend thyself to God ! 1 5 



(1840) 



THE CONQUEROR WORM 

Lo ! 't is a gala night 

Within the lonesome latter years ! 
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight 

In veils, and drowned in tears, 
Sit in a theatre, to see 

A play of hopes and fears, 
While the orchestra breathes fitfully 

The music of the spheres. 

Mimes, in the form of God on high. 

Mutter and mumble low, 
And hither and thither fly — 

Mere puppets they, who come and go 
At bidding of vast formless things 

That shift the scenery to and fro. 
Flapping from out their Condor wings 

Invisible Wo ! 

That motley drama — oh, be sure 

It shall not be forgot ! 
With its Phantom chased for evermore 

By a crowd that seize it not. 



14 That haunteth : Who haunteth (B.G.M.); lone: dim (B.G.M.). 
Title Omitted in B.J. [September 27, 1845], the poem being there 
printed as a part of Ligeia. 

3 An angel: A mystic [Graham's, S.M., B.J. [May 24, 1845]). 
13 formless: shadowy (Graham'' s). 



I06 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Through a circle that ever returneth in 

To the self-same spot, 
And much of Madness, and more of Sin, 

And Horror the soul of the plot. 

But see, amid the mimic rout, 25 

A crawling shape intrude ! 
A blood-red thing that writhes from out 

The scenic solitude ! 
It writhes ! — it writhes ! — with mortal pangs 

The mimes become its food, 30 

And seraphs sob at vermin fangs 

In human gore imbued. 

Out — out are the lights — out all ! 

And, over each quivering form. 
The curtain, a funeral pall, 35 

Comes down with the rush of a storm, 
While the angels, all pallid and wan, 

Uprising, unveiling, affirm 
That the play is the tragedy, " Man," 

And its hero, the Conqueror Worm. 40 
(1843) 

31 And seraphs: And the seraphs {B.J. [September 27, 1845]), And 
the angels (all texts save B.J. [September 27, 1845] and the Lorimer 
Graham copy of 1845). 

34 quivering: dying [Graham's). 

37 While: And (all texts save the Lorimer Graham copy); angels: 
seraphs (Graham's) ; pallid: haggard (Graham's). 

40 And: Omitted in Graham's, S.M., B.J. [May 24, 1845], P-P-A. 
[1847]. 



DREAM-LAND 107 

DREAM-LAND 

By a route obscure and lonely, 
Haunted by ill angels only, 
Where an Eidolon, named Night, 
On a black throne reigns upright, 
I have reached these lands but newly 5 

From an ultimate dim Thule — - 
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime. 
Out of Space — out of Time. 

Bottomless vales and boundless floods, 

And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods, 10 

With forms that no man can discover 

For the tears that drip all over ; 

Mountains toppling evermore 

Into seas without a shore ; 

Seas that restlessly aspire, 15 

Surging, unto skies of fire ; 

Lakes that endlessly outspread 

Their lone waters, lone and dead, — 

Their still waters, still and chilly 

With the snows of the lolling lily. 20 

By the lakes that thus outspread 

Their lone waters, lone and dead, — 

Their sad waters, sad and chilly 

With the snows of the lolling lily, — 

By the mountains — - near the river 25 

Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever, — 



12 tears : dews (all other texts). 

13 Mountains : Fountains (B./.). 

20 Graham's repeats after this line the first six lines of the poem, with the 
following changes : my home instead of " these lands " in line 5, and this for 
" an " in line 6. 

25 mountains: mountain {Graham's, B.J.). 



[08 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

By the grey woods, — by the swamp 
Where the toad and the newt encamp, — 
By the dismal tarns and pools 

Where dwell the Ghouls, — 30 

By each spot the most unholy — 
In each nook most melancholy, — 
There the traveller meets, aghast, 
Sheeted Memories of the Past — 
Shrouded forms that start and sigh 35 

As they pass the wanderer by — 
White-robed forms of friends long given. 
In agony, to the Earth — and Heaven. 

For the heart whose woes are legion 

'T is a peaceful, soothing region — 40 

For the spirit that walks in shadow 

'T is — oh, 't is an Eldorado ! 

But the traveller, travelling through it. 

May not — dare not openly view it ; 

Never its mysteries are exposed 45 

To the weak human eye unclosed ; 

So wills its King, who hath forbid 

The uplifting of the fringed lid ; 

And thus the sad Soul that here passes 

Beholds it but through darkened glasses. 50 

By a route obscure and lonely. 
Haunted by ill angels only. 



38 Earth: worms {Graham's, B.J.). After this line Graham''s repeats 
the first six Hnes of the poem, with the following changes : journeyed home 
for " reached these lands " in line 5, and this for " an " in line 6. 

42 'Tis — oh, 'tis: O! it is {Examiner). 

46 unclosed: enclosed {B.J.). 

47 its: the {Graham's, B.J.). 

50 Beholds : Beyond {Examiner). 



THE RAVEN 109 



Where an Eidolon, named Night, 
On a black throne reigns upright, 
I have wandered home but newly 
From this ultimate dim Thule. 

(1844) 



^n THE RAVEN 



y, 

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, 
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore — 
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, 
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. 
" 'T is some visitor," I muttered, " tapping at my chamber door — 5 
Only this and nothing more." 

V/^'. ■...,. 
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December ; 
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. 
Eagerly I wished the morrow ; — vainly I had sought to borrow 
From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost 
Lenore— " 10 

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore — 
Nameless here for evermore. 
y 
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain 
Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before ; 
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating, 15 
" 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door — 
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door ; — 
This it is and nothing more." 



9 sought: tried (all other texts save 1845, Sai.C, S.L.M. [1848], 
and 1850). 

11 name: named {S.L.M. [1848]). 

18 This. That (S.L.M. [1845], ^■^"•' Sat.C); This it is: Ottly this 
(S.L.M. [1848]). 



no THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Presently my soul grew stronger ; hesitating then no longer, 
" Sir," said I, " or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore ; 20 
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, 
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, 
That I scarce was sure I heard you " — here I opened wide the 
door ; ^==- 

Darkness there and nothing more. 

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, 
fearing, 25 

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before ; 

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, 

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, 
" Lenore ? " 

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, 
" Lenore ! " •' •" _] , J- , 

[erely this' ^and nothing more. 30 



Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning. 
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. 
" Surely," said I, " surely that is something at my window lattice ; 
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore — 
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore ; — 35 
'T is the wind and nothing more ! " 

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, 
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore ; 



26 mortal: mortals (1850). 

27 stillness : darkness (all other texts except Lorimer Graham copy of 
1845 and 1850). 

31 Back : TAen (all other texts except 1845, ■S'^^- C., 1845 [Lorimer 
Graham copy] and 1850). 

32 again I heard : I heard again (all others except 1845 [Lorimer 
Graham copy] and 1850; somewhat: sof?ieiki?ig (1850). 



THE RAVEN III 

Not the least obeisance made he ; not a minute stopped or 

stayed he ; 
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber 

door — 40 

Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door — 
Perched, and sat, and nothing more. 

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling. 

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,. 

" Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, " art sure 

no craven, 45 

Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly 

shore — 
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore ! " 
Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, 
Though its answer little meaning — little relevancy bore ; 50 

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being 
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door — 
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, 
With such name as " Nevermore." 

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only 55 
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. 
Nothing farther then he uttered — not a feather then he fluttered — 
Till I scarcely more than muttered, " Other friends have flown 

before — ■ 
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before." 
Then the bird said, " Nevermore." 60 



39 a minute : an instant (all others save Lorimer Graham copy of 1845, 
1850, and Graham's [which substitutes a moment]). 
43 ebony: ebon (S.L.M. [1848]). 

51 living human: sublunary {A. IV.R., S.L.M. [1845], Tribu7ie). 
55 the placid: that placid {Graham's, 1850). 
■ 60 Then the bird said : Quoth the raven (E.M., A. PF./?., S.L.Jl/. [1845]). 



112 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, 
" Doubtless," said I, " what it utters is its only stock and store 
Caught from some imhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster 
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore — 
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore 65 

Of ' Never — nevermore." " 

But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancv into smiling, 

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and 

door; 
Then, upon the vel\-ot sinking, I betook myself to linking 
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore — 70 
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore 
Meant in croaking '' Nevermore." 

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing 
To the fowl whose fieiy eyes now burned into my bosom's core ; 
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining 75 
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er. 
But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er, 
S/it- shall press, ah, nevermore ! 

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen 
censer 79 

Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor. 



61 Startled: Jlo,ufc-ri>;^- (.4. Jr.A\ S.L.J/. [iS^S])- 

64 till his songs one burden bore : so, 7vhfti Hope he would adjure 
(E.M., A. ir.K., S.L.J/. [1845]) ; songs : sofi^ir (Cri'ic). 

66 Sh-ni Despiiir returned, instead of the S7veei Hope he dartd adjure 
(E.M., A.W.H., S.L.M. [1845]); that: "M.f (BJ., Tribune, Critic, P.P. A.). 

66 That sad ans7ver, 'Nevermore' (E.M., A.IV.R., S.L.iM. [1845]); of 
'.\>tvr^//<'n' — <>/' Nevermore' {B./., Critic, L.E., P.P.A., S.L.M. [1848]); 
A'ex'crmore — ah, nevermore (Tribune). 

67 my sad fancy: al/ my sad soul (all other texts save the Lorimer 
Graham copy of 1845, which substitutes " ni! my fancy "). 

73 This: 77/ wj (Critic). 

80 seraphim whose : angels whose/;//// (all others except 1845 [Lorimer 
Graham copy] and 1850). 



THE RAVEN 113 

" Wretch," I cried, "' thy God hath lent thee — by these angels he 

hath sent thee 
Respite — respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore ; 
Quaff, oh, quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore I " 
Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 

" Prophet ! " said I, " thing of evil 1 — prophet still, if bird or 
devil 1 — 85 

Whether Tempter sent, or v^'hcther tempest tossed thee here ashore. 
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted — 
On this home by Horror haunted — tell me truly, I implore — 
Is there — is there balm in Gilead? — tell me — tell me, I implore! " 
Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 90 

" Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! — prophet still, if bird or devil! 
By that Heaven that bends above us — by that God we both 

adore — 
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, 
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore — , 
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.*' 
Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 96 

" Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend I " I shrieked, 

upstarting — 
" Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore ! 
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken ! 
Leave my loneliness unbroken !— quit the bust above my door! 
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my 

door I " loi 

Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting 
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door ; 



83 Quaff, oh: Let me [A. W. R., S.L.M. [1845], Tribitne). 



114 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, 
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow ofl-fehe- floor-; 
And my spul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor 
Shall be lifted — nevermore ! io8 

(1845) 

EULALIE — A SONG 

I dwelt alone 

In a world of moan, 
And my soul was a stagnant tide, 
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride — 
Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride. 5 

Ah, less — less bright 
The stars of the night 
Than the eyes of the radiant girl ! 
And never a flake 

That the vapor can make 10 

With the moon-tints of purple and pearl, 
Can vie with the modest Eulalie's most unregarded curl — 
Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie's most humble and 
careless curl. 

Now Doubt — now Pain 
Come never again, 
For her soul gives me sigh for sigh, 
And all day long 
Shines, bright and strong, 
Astarte within the sky. 
While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye — 20 

While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye. 

(1845) 



105 demon's: demon (all others except 1845, S^^- C--, Graham's, S.L.M. 
[1848], and 1850). 

11 moon-tints : mom-tints {A.tV./?.}. 20 While : And (A. W.R., B.J.). 
17 And : While {A. W.R., B.J.). 21 While : And {A. W.R., B.J.). 



A VALENTINE 115 



A VALENTINE 



For her these lines are penned, whose luminous eyes, 

Brightly expressive as the twins of Loeda, 
Shall find her own sweet name that, nestling, lies 

Upon this page, enwrapped from every reader. 
Search narrowly this rhyme, which holds a treasure 

Divine — a talisman — an amulet 
That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure ; 

The words — the letters themselves. Do not forget 
The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor. 

And yet there is in this no Gordian knot 
Which one might not undo without a sabre, 

If one could merely understand the plot. 
Enwritten upon this page whereon are peering 

Such eager eyes, there lies, I say, perdu, 
A well-known name, oft uttered in the hearing 

Of poets, by poets ; as the name is a poet's, too. 



Title To Her Whose Name is Written Below {E.M.), A Valentine. 
To ( [7.M.). 

1 these lines are : this rhyme is {U.M., 1850). 

2 Brightly: Bright and {E.M.)\ twins: stars {E.M.). 

4 this: the ((/.A/., 1850). 

5 this rhyme, which holds : these words which hold (E.iM.), the lines ! — 
they hold {U.M., 1850). 

8 letters themselves: syllables {U.M., 1850). 

9 trivialest: smallest (E.AI.). 

12 understand: cotnprehend {E.M., U.M., 1850). 

13 Upon the open page on which are peering {E.M.); Enwritten upon 
the leaf where now are peering {(/.A/., 1850). 

14 Such s'coeet eyes no7v, there lies, I say, perdu (E.M.) ; Eyes scintil- 
latifig soul, there lie perdus (U.M., 1850). 

15 A well-known name : A musical name (E.AI.), Three eioquetit words 
(^.J/., 1850). 

16 zs: for (E.AI.). 



Il6 THE POEMS OE EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Its letters, although naturally lying — 

Like the knight Pinto (Mendez Ferdinando") — 
Still fomi a synonym for truth. Cease trying ! 19 

You will not read the riddle though you do the best you airi do. 

(.1846) 

TO M. L. S 

Of all who hail thy presence as the morning — 

Of all to whom thine absence is the night — 

The blotting utterly from out high heaven 

The sacred sun — of all who, weeping, bless thee 

Hourly for hope — for life — ah ! above all, 5 

For the resurrection of deep-buried faith 

In Tnith, in Virtue, in Humanit)- — 

Of all who. on Despair's unhallowed bed 

Lying down to die, have suddenly arisen 

At thy soft-murmured words, " Let there be light ! " 10 

At the soft-murmured words that w'ere fulfilled 

In the seraphic glancing of thine eyes — 

Of all who owe thee most — whose gratitude 

Nearest resembles worship — oh, remember 

The truest — the most fer\-ently devoted, 15 

And think that these weak lines are written by him — 

By him who, as he pens them, thrills to think 

His spirit is a'>mmuning with an angel's. 

C1S47) 



17 /« ivmmon sequence s^t, the letters lying (£".-1/.). 
18-20 Instead of these lines, E.M. has the following: 

Comfi>se a spttnJ (fe/i^Aftn^i^r <»^' '<' ^<''''" — 
Ah, (AisYPu \i hiiTY no tivuHe in deserving 

Were yon not something of a dunee, my dear: 
And «<>«> / Utrve these n'dd/es to their seer. 



ULALUME — A BALLAD 1 17 

ULALUME — A BALLAD 

The skies they were ashen and sober ; 

The leaves they were crispe'd and sere — 

The leaves they were withering and sere : 
It was night, in the lonesome October 

Of my most immemorial year ; 5 

It was hard by the dim lake of Auber, 

In the misty mid region of Weir — 
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber, 

In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. 

Here once, through an alley Titanic, 10 

Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul — 

Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul. 
These were days when my heart was volcanic 

As the scoriae rivers that roll — 

As the lavas that restlessly roll 15 

Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek 

In the ultimate climes of the Pole — 
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek 

In the realms of the Boreal Pole. 

Our talk had been serious and sober, 20 

But our thoughts they were palsied and sere — 
Our memories were treacherous and sere ; 

For we knew not the month was October, 

And we marked not the night of the year 

(Ah, night of all nights in the year 1) — • 25 



Title To . Ulalume: A Ballad {A.W.R., P.P.A.), Ula- 

lume (1850). 

1 they : Omitted in P./. 

13 L. W. inserts the before " days." 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE ' 

We noted not the dim lake of Auber 

(Though once we had journeyed down here) — 
We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber, 

Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. 

And now, as the night was senescent 30 

And star-dials pointed to morn — 

As the star-dials hinted of morn — 
At the end of our path a liquescent 

And nebulous lustre was born, 
Out of which a miraculous crescent 35 

Arose with a duplicate horn — 
Astarte's bediamonded crescent 

Distinct with its duplicate horn. 

And I said : " She is warmer than Dian ; 

She rolls through an ether of sighs — 40 

She revels in a region of sighs. 
She has seen that the tears are not dry on 

These cheeks, where the worm never dies. 
And has come past the stars of the Lion, 

To point us the path to the skies — 45 

To the Lethean peace of the skies — 
Come up, in despite of the Lion, 

To shine on us with her bright eyes — 
Come up through the lair of the Lion, 

With love in her luminous eyes." 50 

But Psyche, uplifting her finger. 

Said : " Sadly this star I mistrust — 
Her pallor I strangely mistrust : 



28 We : Omitted by P. J., P. P. A., and 1850. 

31 And: As (P./.). 40 an: oit {H.J.). 

32 As : And {P.J.). 51 uplifting : uplifted (P./.). 



ULALUME — A BALLAD 119 

Ah, hasten ! — ah, let us not linger I 

Ah, fly ! — let us fly ! — for we must." 55 

In terror she spoke, letting sink her 

Wings till they trailed in the dust — 
In agony sobbed, letting sink her 

Plumes till they trailed in the dust — 

Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust. 60 

I replied : " This is nothing but dreaming : _ . 

Let us on by this tremulous light ! 

Let us bathe in this crystalline light ! 
Its Sibyllic splendor is beaming 

With Hope and in Beauty to-night : — 65 

See ! — it flickers up the sky through the night ! 
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming, 

And be sure it will lead us aright — 
We surely may trust to a gleaming. 

That cannot but guide us aright, 70 

Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night." 

Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her. 

And tempted her out of her gloom — 

And conquered her scruples and gloom ; 
And we passed to the end of the vista, 75 

But were stopped by the door of a tomb — 

By the door of a legended tomb ; 
And I said : " What is written, sweet sister, 

On the door of this legended tomb ? " 

She replied : " Ulalume — Ulalume ! — 80 

'T is the vault of thy lost Ulalume ! " 



64 Ah: Oh (all others) ; ah: oh (all others). 

65 Ah : Oh (all others). 

57 Wings : Plumes (P.J.) ; till : iiniil (1850). 

69 Plumes : Wings (/"./.). 

69 surely: safely (all others). 

76 But: And [A. W.K., H.J.) ; were : luc (P. J.). 



I20 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Then my heart it grew asheii and sober 

As tlie leaves that were crispe'd and sere — 
As tlie leaves that were withering and sore ; 

And I cried : " It was surely October 85 

On this very night of last year 
That I journeyed — I journeyed down here ! — 
That I brought a dread burden down here — 
On this night of all nights in the year, 
Ah, what demon hath tempted me here ? 90 

Well I know, now, this dim lake of Aubor — 
This misty mid region of Weir — 

^^'ell I know, now, this dank tam of Auber, 
This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir." 

Said wo, then — the two, then : " Ah. can it 95 

Have been that the woodlandish gliouls — 
The pitiful, the merciful ghouls — 

To bar up our way and to ban it 

From the secret that lies in those wolds — 

From the thing that lies hidden in those wolds — 100 

Ha\o drawn up the spectre of a planet 
From the limbo of lunar)' souls — 

This sinfully scintillant planet 

From the Hell of tlie planetaty souls ? " 

(1847) 



90 Ah: CVi {A.lf'.K.. HJ., P./., L.U'.)\ hath: //.?. lall others except 
P. P.. -I.). 

94 This: /// i/ic {A. Jj:P., //./.. L. U'., PP.A.), 
95-104 Omitted by /'./• and 1850. 
101 Have : I/nJ (A. jr.P., //./.). 



AN ENIGMA 



AN ENIGMA 



" Seldom we find," says Solomon Don Dunce, 

" Half an idea in the profoundest sonnet. 

Through all the flimsy things we see at once 

As easily as through a Naples bonnet — 

Trash of all trash ! — how can a lady don it ? 

Yet heavier far than your Petrarchan stuff — 

Owl-downy nonsense that the faintest puff 

Twirls into trunk-paper the while you con it." 
And, veritably, Sol is right enough. 
The general tuckermanities are arrant 
Bubbles — ephemeral and so transparent — 
But this is, now, — you may depend upon it — 
Stable, opaque, immortal — all by dint 
Of the dear names that lie concealed within 't. 



TO 



(1848) 



Not long ago, the writer of these lines, 

In the maa pride of intellectuality, 

Maintained " the power of words " — denied that ever 

A thought arose within the human brain 

Beyond the utterance of the human tongue ; 

And now, as if in mockery of that boast, 

Two words — two foreign soft dissyllables — 

Italian tones made only to be murmured 

By angels dreaming in the moonlit " dew 

That hangs like chains of pearl on Hermon hill " — 

Have stirred from out the abysses of his heart, 

Unthought-like thoughts that are the souls of thought, 



Title Soruiet {U.M.). 

10 tuckermanities: reU-archanities [U.M.). 

Title To (1850). 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Richer, far wilder, far diviner visions 

Than even the seraph harper, Israfel, 

Who has " the sweetest voice of all God's creatures," 15 

Could hope to utter. And I ! my spells are broken. 

The pen falls powerless from my shivering hand. 

With thy dear name as text, though bidden by thee, 

I cannot write — I cannot speak or think, 

Alas, I cannot feel ; for 't is not feeling, 20 

This standing motionless upon the golden 

Threshold of the wide-open gate of dreams, 

Gazing, entranced, adown the gorgeous vista. 

And thrilling as I see upon the right, 

Upon the left, and all the way along 25 

Amid empurpled vapors, far away 

To where the prospect terminates — thee only. 

(1848) 

THE BELLS 

I. 

Hear the sledges with the bells - 

Silver bells I 

What a world of merriment their melody foretells ! 

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle. 

In the icy air of night ! 

While the stars that oversprinkle 

All the heavens, seem to twinkle 

With a crystalline delight ; 

Keeping time, time, time, 

In a sort of Runic rhyme, 

To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells I 

From the bells, bells, bells, bells, / 

Bells, bells, bells— ■' 

I 
From the jingling and the tinkling of the beUs. \ 



26 empurpled: titipurpled (\8e,o). 

Title The Bells.— A Song [U.M. [December, 1849]). 



THE BELLS 123 

n. 

/ Hear the mellow wedding bells — j 15 

V^ Golden bells ! ^ 

What a world of happiness their harmony foretells 1 
Through the balmy air of night 
How they ring out their delight ! — 

From the molten-golden notes, 20 

And all in tune, 
What a liquid ditty floats 
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats 
On the moon ! 
Oh, from out the sounding cells, 25 

What a gush of euphony voluminously wells ! 
How it swells ! 
How it dwells 
On the Future ! — how it tells 
Of the rapture that impels 30 

. To the swinging and the ringing 
Of the bells, bells, bells — 
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells. 
Bells, bells, bells — 
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells ! 35 



The text printed in the Union Magazine for December, 1849, inasmuch 
as it differs radically from the final text, is given here in its entirety : 

The Bells. — A Song 

The bells ! — hear the bells ! The bells ! — ah, the bells I 

The meiry wedding bells ! The heavy iron bells ! 

The little silver bells ! Hear the tolling of the bells ! 10 

How fairy-like a melody there swells Hear the knells ! 

From the silver tijikling cells 5 How horj-ible a monody there floats 
Of the bells, bells, bells ! From their throats — 

Of the bells ! F7vm their deep-toned throats ! 

Ho7u I shudder at the notes 15 

From the melancholy throats 
Of the bells, bells, bells — 
Of the bells — 



124 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN FOE 

III. 
Hear the loud alarum bells- 
Brazen bells I 
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells 1 i 
In the startled ear of night / 

How they scream out their affright I / 40 

Too much horritied to speak, ^■ 

They can only shriek, shriek, ^^ 

Out of tune, _.- — -""^ 

In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire. 
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire, 45 

Leaping higher, higher, higher, 
With a desperate desire, 
And a resolute endeavor 
Now — now to sit, or never. 
By the side of the pale-faced moon. 50 

Oh, the bells, bells, bells ! 
What a tale their terror tells 
Of Despair I 
^^ How they clang, and clash, and roar I 
-'"' What a horror they outpour 55 

On the bosom of the palpitating air I 
Yet the ear, it fully knows. 
By the twanging 
j And the clanging. 

f How the danger ebbs and flows ; 60 

Yet the ear distinctly tells. 
In the jangling 
j And the wrangling. 

I How the danger sinks and swells, 

' By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells — 65 
Of the bells, — 
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells. 
Bells, bells, bells — 
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells ! 



THE BELLS 125 

IV. — ■ \ 

Hear the tolling of the bells — \ 70 

Iron bells ! 
What a world of solemn thought their monody compeh 
In the silence of the night, 
How we shiver with affright 
At the melancholy menace of their tone 1 / 75 

For every sound that floats 
From the rust within their throats 
Is a groan. 
And the people — ah, the people — 
They that dwell up in the steeple, ' 80 

All alone, 
And who tolling, tolling, tolling, 

In that muffled monotone. 
Feel a glory in so rolling 

On the human heart a stone — 85 

They are neither man nor woman — 
They are neither brute nor human — 
They are Ghouls : — 
And their king it is who tolls : — 
And he rolls, rolls, rolls, / go 

Rolls 
A paean from the bells 
And his merry bosom swells' 

With the pasan of the bells 1 
And he dances, and he yells ; 05 

Keeping time, time, time. 
In a sort of Runic rhyme. 

To the pasan of the bells — 
Of the bells : — 
Keeping time, time, time, 100 

In a sort of Runic rhyme. 

To the throbbing of the bells — 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Of the bells, bells, bells — 
To the sobbing of the bells ; 
Keeping time, time, time, 105 

As he knells, knells, knells. 
In a happy Runic rhyme, 

To the rolling of the bells — 
Of the bells, bells, bells : — 

To the tolling of the bells — 1 10 

Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, 
Bells, bells, bells — 
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells. 

(1849) 

TO HELEN 

I saw thee once — once only — years ago : 

I must not say how many — but 7iot many. 

It was a July midnight ; and from out 

A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring. 

Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven, 5 

There fell a silvery-silken veil of light, 

With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber, 

Upon the upturn'd faces of a thousand 

Roses that grew in an enchanted garden. 

Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe — 10 

Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses 

That gave out, in return for the love-light, 

Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death — 

Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses 

That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted 15 

By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence. 

Clad all in white, upon a violet bank 

I saw thee half reclining ; while the moon 



Title To {U. J/., P. P. A.). 

6 precipitate : precipitant {U.M.). 
18 saw: sec {U.M:). 



TO HELEN 127 

Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses, 

And on thine own, upturn'd — alas, in sorrow! 20 

Was it not Fate that, on this July midnight — 

Was it not Fate (whose name is also Sorrow) 

That bade me pause before that garden-gate, 

To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses ? 

No footstep stirred : the hated world all slept, 25 

Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven I — oh, God ! 

How my heart beats in coupling those two words ! 

Save only thee and me). I paused — I looked — 

And in an instant all things disappeared. 

(Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted !) 30 

The pearly lustre of the moon went out : 

The mossy banks and the meandering paths. 

The happy flowers and the repining trees. 

Were seen no more : the very roses' odors 

Died in the arms of the adoring airs. 35 

All — all expired save thee — save less than thou : 

Save only the divine light in thine eyes — 

Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes. 

I saw but them — • they were the world to me. 

I saw but them — • saw only them for hours — - 40 

Saw only them until the moon went down. 

What wild heart-histories seemed to lie enwritten 

Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres ! 

How dark a wo ! yet how sublime a hope ! 

How silently serene a sea of pride ! 45 

How daring an ambition ! yet how deep — 

How fathomless a capacity for love ! 

But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight, 
Into a western couch of thunder-cloud ; 



26-28 U.I\I. and P. P. A. omit the second half of Hne 26, all of line 27, 
and the first half of line 28. 



:28 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - 

And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees 50 

Didst glide away. Only thifie eyes refnained. 
They would not go — they never yet have gone. 
Lighting my lonely pathway home that night, 
They have not left me (as my hopes have) since. 
They follow me — they lead me through the years. 55 

They are my ministers — yet I their slave. 
Their office is to illumine and enkindle — 
My duty, to be saved by their bright light, 
And purified in their electric fire, 

And sanctified in their elysian fire. 60 

They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope), 
And are far up in Heaven — the stars I kneel to 
In the sad, silent watches of my night ; 
While even in the meridian glare of day 
I see them still — two sweetly scintillant 65 

Venuses, unextinguished by the sun ! b ■ 

(1848) 

ELDORADO 

Gaily bedight, 

A gallant knight, 
In sunshine and in shadow, 

Had journeyed long. 

Singing a song, 5 

In search of Eldorado. 

But he grew old — • 

This knight so bold — 
And o'er his heart a shadow 

Fell as he found 10 

No spot of ground 
That looked like Eldorado. 



FOR ANNIE 129 

And, as his strength 

Failed him at length, 
He met a pilgrim shadow — 15 

" Shadow," said he, 

" Where can it be — 
This land of Eldorado ? " 

" Over the Mountains 

Of the Moon, 20 

Down the Valley of the Shadow, 

Ride, boldly ride," 

The shade replied, — 
" If you seek for Eldorado ! " 



(1849) 



FOR ANNIE 

Thank Heaven ! the crisis, 

The danger, is past, 
And the lingering illness 

Is over at last — 
And the fever called " Living " 

Is conquered at last. 

Sadly, I know 

I am shorn of my strength, 
And no muscle I move 

As I lie at full length — 
But no matter ! — I feel 

I am better at length. 

And I rest so composedly, 
Now, in my bed, 



8 I am : Transposed to end of line 7 in F. O. U. 



I30 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

That any beholder 15 

Might fancy me dead — - 
Might start at beholding me, 

Thinking me dead. 

The moaning and groaning, 

The sighing and sobbing, 20 

Are quieted now, 

With that horrible throbbing 
At heart : — ah, that horrible. 

Horrible throbbing ! 

The sickness — the nausea — 25 

The pitiless pain — 
Have ceased, with the fever 

That maddened my brain — 
With the fever called " Living " 

That burned in my brain. 30 

And oh ! of all tortures 

That torture the worst 
Has abated — the terrible 

Torture of thirst 
For the naphthaline river 35 

Of Passion accurst : — 
I have drank of a water 

That quenches all thirst : — 

Of a water that flows, 

With a lullaby sound, 40 

18 F. 0. U. transposes the fifth stanza (lines 25-30) to follow this line. 

22 With that : F. O. U. substitutes and the, and transposes to the end 
of line 2 1 . 

23 ah: O [FO.U:). 
31 oh: ah {F.O.U.). 

36 Passion : glofj (F. O. U.). 



FOR ANNIE 131 

From a spring but a very few 

Feet under ground — 
From a cavern not very far 

Down under ground. 

And ah ! let it never 45 

Be foolishly said 
That my room it is gloomy 

And narrow my bed ; 
For man never slept 

In a different bed — 50 

And, to sleep, you must slumber 

In just such a bed. 

My tantalized spirit 

Here blandly reposes, 
Forgetting, or never 55 

Regretting, its roses — 
Its old agitations 

Of myrtles and roses : 

For now, while so quietly 

Lying, it fancies 60 

A holier odor 

About it, of pansies — 
A rosemary odor. 

Commingled with pansies — 
With rue and the beautiful 65 

Puritan pansies. 

And so it lies happily, 
Bathing in many 



41 spring but: fountain (F. O. U.). 

46 Be : Transposed to the end of line 45 in F. O. U. 



32 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE ' 

A dream of the truth 

And the beauty of Annie — 70 

Drowned in a bath 

Of the tresses of Annie. 

She tenderly kissed me, 

She fondly caressed, 
And then I fell gently 75 

To sleep on her breast — 
Deeply to sleep 

From the heaven of her breast. 

When the light was extinguished. 

She covered me warm, 80 

And she prayed to the angels 
To keep me from harm — 

To the queen of the angels 
To shield me from harm. 

And I lie so composedly, 85 

Now, in my bed 
(Knowing her love). 

That you fancy me dead — 
And I rest so contentedly. 

Now, in my bed 90 

(With her love at my breast), 

That you fancy me dead — 
That you shudder to look at me. 

Thinking me dead : — • 

But my heart it is brighter 95 

Than all of the many 



69 truth: love {F.O.U.). 

78 From the : Transposed to end of line 77 \n F.O.U. 



TO MY MOTHER 

Stars in the sky, 

For it sparkles with Annie - 
It glows with the light 

Of the love of my Annie — 
With the thought of the light 

Of the eyes of my Annie. 



TO MY MOTHER 



133 



(1849) 



Because I feel that, in the Heavens above, 

The angels, whispering to one another, 
Can find, among their burning terms of love, 

None so devotional as that of " Mother," 
Therefore by that dear name I long have called you — 

You who are more than mother unto me. 
And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you 

In setting my Virginia's spirit free. 
My mother — my own mother, who died early, 

Was but the mother of myself ; but you 
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly. 

And thus are dearer than the mother I knew 
By that infinity with which my wife 

Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life. 

(1849) 

97 in : of {F. O. U., H.J.) ; sky: heaven (F. O. U.). 

99 Mghf.Jire (FO.C'.). 

Title Sonnet — To My Mother {F. O. U., L.M.). 

1 I feel that: the angels {L.M.). 

2 The angels, whispering to : Devoutly singing unto (L.M.). 

3 among: aviid {L.M.). 

5 dear : sweet (F. O. U., L.M.). 

7 And fill: Filling (L.M.) ; Death: God (L.M.). 

11 one: dead (L.M.) . 

12 Are thus more precious than the one I knew [L.M.). 



1 34 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

ANNABEL LEE 

It was many and many a year ago, 

In a kingdom by the sea, 
That a maiden there lived whom you may know 

By the name of Annabel Lee ; — 
And this maiden she lived with no other thought 5 

Than to love and be loved by me. 

She was a child and / was a child, 

In this kingdom by the sea. 
But we loved with a love that was more than love — 

I and my Annabel Lee — lo 

With a love that the winge'd seraphs of Heaven 

Coveted her and me. 

And this was the reason that, long ago, 

In this kingdom by the sea, 
A wind blew out of a cloud by night 15 

Chilling my Annabel Lee ; 
So that her highborn kinsmen came 

And bore her away from me. 
To shut her up in a sepulchre 

In this kingdom by the sea. 20 

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, 

Went envying her and me : — 
Yes ! that was the reason (as all men know, 

In this kingdom by the sea) 



Title Annabel Lee. A Ballad [U.M.). 

7 ^'- She" and "/" are interchanged in the Tribune, P. P. A., and 1850. 

15 by night: chilling {Tribune, U.M., P.P. A., 1850). 

16 Chilhngmy: My beautiful [Tribtme, U.M.,P.P.A.,zSe,o). 

17 kinsmen: kinsman {U.M., 1850). 



ANNABEL LEE 135 

That the wind came out of the cloud, chilling 25 

And killing my Annabel Lee. 

But our love it was stronger by far than the love 

Of those who were older than we — 

Of many far wiser than we — 
And neither the angels in Heaven above 30 

Nor the demons down under the sea, 
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee : — 

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams 

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee ; 35 

And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes 

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee ; 
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side 
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride, 

In her sepulchre there by the sea — 40 

In her tomb by the side of the sea. 

(1849) 



25 chilling: dy night {Tribune, U.M., P. P. A., 1850). 

26 And: Chilling 2.nd (Tribune, U.M., P.P.A., 1850). 
36 S&&: feel (Tribune, U.M., P. P. A., 1850). 

40 her: the (1850). 

41 side of the : sojinding (Tributte, .U.M., P. P. A., 1850). 



UNCOLLECTED VERSES 

ELIZABETH 

Elizabeth, it surely is most fit 

[Logic and common usage so commanding] 

In thy own book thai^rst thy name be writ, 

Zeno and other sages notwithstanding ; 

And /have other reasons for so doing 5 

Besides my innate love of contradiction ; 

Each poet — z/" a poet — in pursuing 

The muses thro' their bowers of Truth or Fiction, 

Has studied very little of his part, 

Read nothing, written less — in short 's a fool ^ lo 

Endued with neither soul, nor sense, nor art. 

Being ignorant of one important rule, 

Employed in even the theses of the school — 

Called — I forget the heathenish Greek name — 

[Called anything, its meaning is the same] 15 

" Always write Jirsf things uppermost in the heart." 

AN ACROSTIC 

Elizabeth, it is in vain you say, 
" Love not" — thou sayest it in so sweet a way. 
In vain those words from thee or L. E. L., 
Xanthippe's talents had enforced so well. 
Ah ! if that language from thy heart arise, 5 

Breathe it less gently forth, — and veil thine eyes, 
Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried 
To cure his love, was cured of all beside — 
His folly — pride — and passion — for he died. 
136 



SONG OF TRIUMPH 137 

LATIN HYMN 

A thousand, a thousand, a thousand, 
A thousand, a thousand, a thousand, 
We, with one warrior, have slain ! 
A thousand, a thousand, a thousand, a thousand, 

Sing a thousand over again ! 5 

Soho ! — let us sing 

Long life to our king. 
Who knocked over a thousand so fine ! 

Soho ! — let us roar, 

He has given us more 10 

Red gallons of gore 
Than all Syria can furnish of wine I 

SONG OF TRIUMPH 

Who is king but Epiphanes ? 

Say — do you know ? 
Who is king but Epiphanes ? 

Bravo ! — bravo ! 
There is none but Epiphanes, 5 

No — there is none : 
So tear down the temples, 

And put out the sun ! 



8 [Song of Tritimphi S.L. M. and 1840 repeat after this line the first four 
lines of the poem. 



POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO POE 

ALONE 

From childhood's hour I have not been 
As others were — I have not seen 
As others saw — I could not bring 
My passions from a common spring — 
From the same source I have not taken 
My sorrow — I could not awaken 
My heart to joy at the same tone — 
And all I lov'd — /lov'd alone. 
T/ien — in my childhood — in the dawn 
Of a most stormy life — was drawn 
From ev'ry depth of good and ill 
The mystery which binds me still — 
From the torrent, or the fountain — 
From the red cliff of the mountain — 
From the sun that round me roU'd 
In its autumn tint of gold — 
From the lightning in the sky 
As it pass'd me flying by — 
From the thunder, and the storm — 
And the cloud that took the form 
(When the rest of Heaven was blue) 
Of a demon in my view. 

A WEST POINT LAMPOON 

As for Locke, he is all in my eye ; 

May the d 1 right soon for his soul call. 

He never was known to lie — 

In bed at a reveille roll-call. 
138 



LINES TO LOUISA 139 

John Locke was a notable name ; 5 

Joe Locke is a greater : in short, 
The former was well known to fame, 

But the latter 's well known " to report." 



LINES TO LOUISA 

Flow softly — gently — vital stream ; 

Ye crimson life-drops, stay ; 
Indulge me with this pleasing dream 

Thro' an eternal day. 

See — see — my soul, her agony ! 

See how her eye-balls glare ! 
Those shrieks, delightful harmony. 

Proclaim her deep despair. 

Rise — rise — infernal spirits, rise. 
Swift dart across her brain ; 

Thou Horror with blood-chilling cries 
Lead on thy hideous train. 

O, feast my soul, revenge is sweet ; 

Louisa, take my scorn, — 
Curs'd was the hour that saw us meet, 

The hour when we were bom. 

TO SARAH 

When melancholy and alone, 

I sit on some moss-covered stone 

Beside a murm'ring stream ; 
I think I hear thy voice's sound 
In every tuneful thing around. 

Oh ! what a pleasant dream. 



I40 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - 

The silvery streamlet gurgling on, 
The mock-bird chirping on the thorn, 

Remind me, love, of thee. 
They seem to whisper thoughts of love, lo 

As thou didst when the stars above 

Witnessed thy vows to me ; — 

The gentle zephyr floating by, 
In chorus to my pensive sigh. 

Recalls the hour of bliss, 15 

When from thy balmy lips I drew 
Fragrance as sweet as Hermia's dew, 

And left the first fond kiss. 

In such an hour, when are forgot. 

The world, its cares, and my own lot, 20 

Thou seemest then to be 
A gentle guardian spirit given 
To guide my wandering thoughts to heaven. 

If they should stray from thee. 

BALLAD 

They have giv'n her to another — 

They have sever'd ev'ry vow ; 

They have giv'n her to another, 

And my heart is lonely now ; 

They remember'd not our parting — 5 

They remember'd not our tears. 

They have sever'd in one fatal hour 

The tenderness of years. 

Oh ! was it weal to leave me .'' 
Thou couldst not so deceive me ; 10 

Lang and sairly shall I grieve thee, 
Lost, lost Rosabel ! 



FRAGMENT OF A CAMPAIGN SONG 141 

They have giv'n thee to another — 

Thou art now his gentle bride ; 

Had I lov'd thee as a brother, 15 

I might see thee by his side ; 

But / hiow with gold they won thee. 

And thy trusting heart beguil'd ; 

Thy mother, too, did shun me, 

For she knew I lov'd her child. 20 

Oh ! was it weal to leave me ? 

Thou couldst not so deceive me ; 

Lang and sairly shall I grieve thee, 
Lost, lost Rosabel ! 

They have giv'n her to another — 25 

She will love him, so they say ; 

If her mem'ry do not chide her, 

Oh ! perhaps, perhaps she may ; 

But I know that she hath spoken 

What she never can forget ; 30 

And tho' my poor heart be broken, 

It will love her, love her yet. 

Oh ! was it weal to leave me .'' 

Thou couldst not so deceive me ; 

Lang and sairly shall I grieve thee, 35 

Lost, lost Rosabel ! 

FRAGMENT OF A CAMPAIGN SONG 

See the White Eagle soaring aloft to the sky. 
Wakening the broad welkin with his loud battle cry ; 
Then here 's the White Eagle, full daring is he, 
As he sails on his pinions o'er valley and sea. 



142 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

IMPROMPTU 

To Kate Carol 

When from your gems of thought I turn 
To those pure orbs, your heart to learn, 
I scarce know which to prize most high — 
The bright i-dea^ or bright dear-eye. 

THE DEPARTED 

Where the river ever floweth, 
Where the green grass ever groweth, 
' Where each star most faintly gloweth, 
^. Do I wander on ; 

My thick pulses hastily beating. 
My quick glances now retreating, 
And, with bold advance, now meeting. 
Shadows of the gone ! 

Lonely, by that lovely river. 

Where the moon-lit blossoms quiver. 

Do I wander on forever. 

Musing on the past ; 
When the weary moon descendeth. 
When each pale star earthward bendeth. 
Then my soul strong memories sendeth, — 

Joys too bright to last ! 

She, earth's bright and loveliest flower, 
Spirit, cooped in mortal bower. 
She, whose voice alone had power 

O'er my soul, is gone ! 
Vain, oh ! vain, are tears and wailing. 
Fierce deep grief is unavailing. 
Yet are they my heart assailing, — 

Proud heart, never won 1 



THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS 143 

By that river, ever flowing, 25 

With heaven's light upon her glowing. 
Sometimes comes she to me, showing 

Things past and to come. 
And we wander on, caressing. 
While the mute earth sheds her blessing, 30 

Happy in that dim possessing, 

Spirits in the gloom ! 

Were it not for that dim meeting, 

Were it not for that dark greeting. 

Its own core my wild heart eating, 35 

Soon would turn to clay. 
Now along that lonely river. 
Lonely do I wander ever. 
Where the nightly blossoms shiver, — 

Dark and sad as they ! 40 



THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS 

The only king by right divine 

Is Ellen King, and were she mine 

I'd strive for liberty no more. 

But hug the glorious chains I wore. 

Her bosom is an ivory throne. 
Where tyrant virtue reigns alone ; 
No subject vice dare interfere, 
To check the power that governs here. 

O ! would she deign to rule my fate, 
I'd worship Kings and kingly state. 
And hold this maxim all life long. 
The King — my King — - can do no wron^ 



144 '^i'HE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - 

STANZAS 

Lady ! I would that verse of mine 

Could fling, all lavishly and free, 
Prophetic tones from every line, 

Of health, joy, peace, in store for thee. 

Thine should be length of happy days, 5 

Enduring joys and fleeting cares, 
Virtues that challenge envy's praise. 

By rivals loved, and mourned by heirs. 

Thy life's free course- should ever roam 

Beyond this bounded earthly clime, lo 

No billow breaking into foam 

Upon the rock-girt shore of Time. 

The gladness of a gentle heart. 

Pure as the wishes breathed in prayer. 

Which has in others' joys a part, 15 

While in its own all others share. 

The fullness of a cultured mind, 

Stored with the wealth of bard and sage. 

Which Error's glitter cannot blind. 

Lustrous in youth, undimmed in age ; 20 

The grandeur of a guileless soul. 

With wisdom, virtue, feeling fraught. 

Gliding serenely to its goal. 

Beneath the eternal sky of Thought : — • 

These should be thine, to guard and shield, 25 

And this the life thy spirit live, 
Blest with all bliss that earth can yield. 

Bright with all hopes that Heaven can give. 



GRATITUDE 145 

GRATITUDE 

To 

As turns the eye to bless the hand that led its infant years, 
As list'ning still for that sweet voice which every tone endears, 
So I to thee, through mental power, would each remembrance trace. 
And bless the hand that led me on to fonts of lasting grace. 
As sailor on the billowy deep hath seen some light afar, 5 

And shunned the rock that lies between his pathway and the star. 
So hast thou been o'er stormy wave to me, 'mid sorrow's night, 
A beacon true whose glory spreads afar its rays of light. 
As flow sweet sounds of melody from strings drawn out by skill. 
As roll its wavelets o'er the soul and all its chambers fill, 10 

So came the words of holy truth endued with wisdom's zeal. 
So fell their impress on my heart and stamped it with their seal. 

As runs the rivulet its course and swifter as it flows. 

Still murmuring of the hidden .depths where first its waters rose, 

So evermore as life glides on expanding far and wide, 15 

Will turn the heart to where at first was ope'd its holiest tide. 

As pours the captive bird its song to him who sets it free. 

So flows my breath in song of praise in gratitude to thee. 

As o'er the earth the sun reflects its rays of living light. 

So thou by thy pure rays of thought art power to mental sight. 20 



NOTES 1 

TAMERLANE (1) 

(1827; Yankee, December, 1829 (in part); 1829; 1831 ; 1845) 

(Text: 1845) 

Date of Composition. Tamet-lane is the first of the poems in 1827, 
and it is also given the initial position in the group of " Poems Written 
in Youth " in the collective edition of 1845 ; but whether or not it is 
the earliest of Poe's poems it is impossible to say. Poe claims in the 
preface of 1827 that " the greater part " of the poems published in that 
edition "were written in the year 1821-2." It is barely possible that 
Tamerlatie was originally conceived as early as this — when Poe was 
a child of twelve or thirteen — but that it had reached at that time a 
stage approximating that in which we first find it is highly improbable. 
Poe was notoriously reckless in his citation of dates, and he took de- 
light in mystifying his public. In the light of all the circumstances now 
known to us, it seems unlikely that the poem was written before 1826. 

Text. The text of Tamerlane followed in the present edition (save 
for sundry corrections pointed out in the notes) is that of 1845. This 
text is based on that of 1829, from which it differs verbally in only one 
line (57). The text of 1831 is also based on 1829, but departs from it in 
the omission of some forty lines, in the addition of about fifty lines, and 
in the introduction of numerous verbal changes. Among the added 
passages in 1831 are imperfect drafts of A Dream witliiii a Dreatn 

and The Lake : To , both published as separate items in 1827 

and 1829. The text of 1827 is much fuller than the later versions and 
for this reason has been reproduced in the footnotes of the present edi- 
tion in its entirety. A manuscript copy of the poem once in the posses- 
sion of L. A. Wilmer (see .Stedman and Woodberry, X, pp. 199-208) 
represents a stage intermediate between the texts of 1827 and 1829. 

1 The figures in parenthesis after the titles of the poems refer to pages 
of the text. 

147 



148 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Sources. The plot of the poem follows in broad outline the life-story 
of the famous Tartar warrior, Tamerlane, and on this is grafted a 
fanciful love story. Just how Poe's attention was first drawn to the 
subject we have no way of telling. While at school in London, he had 
probably come to know something of the part played by Tamerlane in 
history; and either then or after his return to Richmond in 1820, he 
may also have become acquainted with some of the literary versions 
of the Tamerlane story, which included, besides Marlowe's Tai?:biir- 
laine^ plays by Nicholas Rowe and Monk Lewis ; though it is plain 
that he owed nothing to them, save, possibly, the mere suggestion of 
his theme. It may be, too, that he had seen some one of these plays 
presented on the stage. Rowe's play was acted in London annually 
down to the year 181 5 (see Sir Sidney Lee's article on Rowe in the 
Dictionaiy of lYafional BiogmpJiy) ; and a piece entitled Timour the 
Tartar (probably based on Monk Lewis's melodrama) was acted in Balti- 
more as late as 1829 (see \\\& Baltimore Gazette of November 7, 1829). 

The love story which Poe weaves into his plot appears to be a 
reflection of his own love affair with Miss Sarah Elmira Royster, of 
Richmond. Miss Royster has herself given a brief account of her re- 
lations with the poet in some reminiscences furnished Mr. J. H. Ingram 
and published by him in Appletoii^s Journal, May, 1878 (new series, 
IV, pp. 428-429). According to this account she first became closely 
associated with the poet in 1824 or early in 1825, and he was a 
frequent visitor at her home during the year 1S25. Before he left 
for the University of Virginia in February, 1826, she became engaged 
to him. But the poet's letters to her from Charlottesville were inter- 
cepted by her father, who was opposed to the marriage; and before 
Poe's return to Richmond in December, 1826, she had engaged herself 
to another suitor, Mr. A. B. Shelton, whom she subsequently married. 
The date of her marriage is uncertain, but she associates it with her 
seventeenth year, or 1827. She died in 1S88, at the age of seventy-eight 
years. Poe perhaps refers to her disloyalty to him also in several other 
poems, especially in Song (" I saw thee on thy bridal day "), and in 
Bridal Ballad, and perhaps also in To One in Paradise. See also the 
notes on To Sarali and Ballad among the Poems Attributed to Poe. 

For the model of his poem in matters of style and mood and struc- 
ture, Poe went to Byron. Stedman has called attention to the parallelism 
with Byron's Giaour, of which he declares Tamerlane is a " manifest 
adumbration " (see Stedman and Woodberry, X, p. xx) ; and there is an 
equally obvious parallelism with 3/anfred, especially with Act III. It 



notp:s 149 

should be added that the parallelism with The Giaour is closest with 
the second half of that poem (11. 917 f.). The general subject of Poe's 
indebtedness to Byron — an indebtedness that is discoverable on nearly 
every page of the volume of 1S27 — has been discussed above, in the 
Introduction (pp. xliv-xlv;. 

That Poe was aware of the imperfections of his poem — its feeble- 
ness, its obscurity, its bareness and brokenness of style, and its utter 
want of originality — may be taken for granted. In the preface of 1827 
he confesses that the poem has " many faults " ; and in a note in 1845 
(p. 55) he refers to Tamerlane along with other early poems as "the 
crude compositions of my earliest boyhood." The text of 1827 is clearer 
and more coherent than the later versions, but it is at the same time 
more diffuse and more halting in its rhythm. 

Poe's notes, which appeared only in the text of 1827, are reprinted 
in the present edition along with the editor's notes, obvious errors in 
spelling and punctuation being corrected. 

1 (1827) "I have sent for thee, holy friar. Of the history of Tamer- 
lane little is known ; and with that little I have taken the full liberty of 
a poet. — That he was descended from the family of Zinghis Khan is 
more than probable — but he is vulgarly supposed to have been the 
son of a shepherd, and to have raised himself to the throne by his own 
address. He died in the year 1405, in the time of Pope Innocent VII. 

"How I shall account for giving him 'a friar' as a death-bed 
confessor, I cannot exactly determine. He wanted some one to listen 
to his tale — and why not a friar ? It does not pass the bounds of possi- 
bility — quite sufficient for my purpose — and I have at least good 
authority on my side for such innovations." — Poe. 

[The punctuation of the poet's comments is both inconsistent and 
inaccurate. In the foregoing paragraph, for instance, Poe placed a 
comma after "friar" and a dash after "confessor"; and in quoting 
from his text the line on which his comment is made, he omitted the 
comma before " holy." Such errors are so frequent as to make it seem 
superfluous to call attention to all of them.] 

1-12 Cf. Byron's Manfred, III, i, 11. 66-78 : 

Old man ! there is no power in holy men, 
Nor charm in prayer, nor purifying form 
Of penitence, nor outward look, nor fast, 
Nor agony — nor, greater than all these, 
The innate tortures of that deep despair. 
Which is remorse without the fear of hell, 



I50 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - 

But all in all sufficient to itself 

Would make a hell of heaven — can exorcise 

From out the unbounded spirit the quick sense 

Of its own sins, wrongs, sufferance, and revenge 

Upon itself ; there is no future pang 

Can deal that justice on the self-condemn'd 

He deals on his own soul. 

Cf. also The Giaour, 11. 389 f. 

2 The line furnishes one of many examples of the poet's abuse of 
the dash. The present editor has retained, however, in his basal text, 
the pointing of his originals except (i) where it was obviously incorrect, 
or (2) where it had the effect of obscuring the poet's meaning, or 
(3) where it was plainly at variance with present-day usage. 

5 revell'd. Poe pretty consistently abbreviates the -ed where it is not 
syllabic, even though (as here) he ran no risk of being mispronounced. 

7 (1827) A lame Hne. The defect is remedied in later editions (see 
line 2) by the insertion of " now " after " not." 

9 If I can hope — oh, God 1 I can. Apparently to be construed as 
ironical. In 1845 " oh" is spelled with a capital and is without a comma 
before the vocative which follows. 

12 such. The reference is faulty, the antecedent being the idea 
contained in line 9. The corresponding passage in the text of 1827 is 
perfectly clear. 

18 jewels. Spelled with a capital in the original. 

21, 22 The note of regret occasioned by the recollection of a happy 
youth sounds almost constantly throughout Poe's earlier verses. It is pos- 
sible that it is entirely conventional and insincere, but it is difficult not to 
believe that it genuinely reflects the poet's feelings. Poe's life in London 
and perhaps for some time after his return to Richmond must have been 
comparatively happy or, at least, happy in comparison with the year ( 1 826) 
spent at college in Charlottesville, or the half-year that intervened be- 
tween his leaving Charlottesville and the publication of his poems. 

25 (1827) hatred. An obvious misprint for "hated." Other false 
spellings that appear in the text of 1827 are " shown " for " shone " 
(1. 26), " crash " for " crush " (1. 66), " sleep " for " steep " (1. 74), " lovli- 
ness " (11. 89, 138), "can'st" and "would'st (1. 103), " dwell " for " dwelt " 
(1. 152), " wore " for " were " (1. 190), " to " for " too " (1. 351), " vallies " 
0- 357)) " lisp " for " list " (1. 371), " trancient " (1. 390). 

39 (1827) " The mists of the Taglay have shed, &c. The mountains 
of Belur Taglay are a branch of the Imaus, in the southern part of 



NOTES 151 

Independent Tartary. — They are celebrated for the singular wildness 
and beauty of their valleys." — PoE. 

[In the original, "the Taglay " is printed in italics, " Imaus " is 
spelled " Immaus," " valleys " is spelled " vallies," and a comma is 
inserted after "wildness."] 

41 So late from Heaven — that dew — it fell. An extremely broken 
line, which finds nothing corresponding to it in 1827. 

57 Rendered me mad and deaf and blind. The only line in which 
the 1845 text of Tcunerlane presents a different reading from that of 
1829. The text of 1829 reads: "Was giantlike — so thou my mind!" 

59 I have substituted a comma for the dash with which this line 
ends in 1845. 

59, 60 Improperly indented in 1845. 

72, 73 (1827) there broke Strange light upon me. In several of his 
earlier pieces Poe adverts to a supernatural revelation that had been 
granted him ; see also line i 23, and, in particular. Dreams, 11. 19 f., and 
Stanzas, 11. 6 f. 

75, 76 Possibly an echo of a passage in Moore's The Loves of the 
Angels, 11. 122-124 (a poem which served as a partial source of Al 
Aaraaf) : 

'T is not in words to tell the power, 
The despotism, that from that hour 
Passion held o'er me. 

81-85 Cf. Wordsworth's poetic account of his "obstinate question- 
ing Of sense and outward things" in his Intimations of hnmortality, 
11. 142-148, and see, also, his prose comment on the Intiinations : 
" Many times when going to school have I grasped at wall or a tree to 
recall myself from this abyss of idealism to the reality." See also in 
this connection the notes on Stanzas. 

88, 89 'T was such as angel minds above Might envy. Cf. Anna- 
bel Lee, 11. 21-22 : 

The angels, not half so happy in heaven, 
Went envying her and me. 

93 example. In 1827 (1. 117) erroneously printed "examples." 
94-97 (1827) See the note on Hnes 81-85 (1845), the corresponding 

lines to these. The parallel with Wordsworth is even closer here 

than there. 

97 In 1845 a comma is wrongly inserted after " forest." 



152 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - 

103-107 (1827) The sentence is badly involved. The object of "name" 
(102) appears to be " empire" (104), "can'st" and "would'st" (103) be- 
ing correlative. " Heav'n " (107) is appositive to "what" (107). The 
idea expressed in the passage suggests that developed more fully in 
Stanzas^ 11. 25-32. 

103 The text of 1845 has a comma after " sunshine." 

109 (1827) The hne is corrupt, "was" having fallen out before 
"worthy." See line 144 (1827). 

Ill Both in his poems and in his tales, Foe makes a good deal of the 

eyes. See, for the poems. To the Rive?^ , 1. 14 ; Al Aaraaf, Part II, 

1.78; Eulalie, 11. 6-8, 20, 2 1 ; To M. L. S , 1. 1 2 ; the second To Helen, 

11. 37-47; A Valentine, 11. 1-2; For Annie, 1. 102; Annabel Lee, \. 36. 

116 I had no being — but in thee. Cf. Byron's The Drea7n, 1. 51 : 
He had no breath, no being, but in hers. 

118 In the earth — the air — the sea. Poe's references to nature 
are infrequent and are almost invariably either vague or perfunctory 
(see the notes on Evening Star). The corresponding passage in the 
text of 1827 (11. 166-167) is less comprehensive, but more picturesque. 
See, for other passages in Tamerlane in which nature plays a part, 
lines 139-143, 253-255, and 318-321 (text of 1827 in each instance). 

120-127 The passage is obscure, but apparently the poet means to 
say that in his idealizing he was confronted by the image of his love, 
on the one hand, and his dreams of glory — a name — (in which his 
love was to share), on the other. This interpretation is supported by 
the text of 1827 (11, 167-178). 

121 Dim, vanities. Both sense and meter seem to favor the omission 
of the comma, but it is retained in each of the editions in which the 
words occur (1829, 1831, 1845), and is at least a possible reading. 

123 a more shadowy light ! See the note on Hnes 72-73 (1827). 

133 But, just like any other dream. An uncommonly pedestrian 
line, even for Poe's earliest period. 

136-143 (1827) Cf. Stanzas, 11. 17-25, and the introductory note on 
that poem. 

139 f. Cf., for a similar situation, Al Aaraaf, Part II, 11. 191 f. 

149 I have substituted a comma for the dash with which this line 
ends in 1845. 

151, 152 (1827) "no purer thought Dwelt in a seraph's breast than 
.thine. I must beg the reader's pardon for making Tamerlane, a Tar- 
tar of the fourteenth century, speak in the same language as a Boston 



NOTES 153 

gentleman of the nineteenth : but of the Tartar mythology we have 
little information." — PoE. 

[Poe corrects in his note the misspelling "dwell" (for "dwelt") 
which appears in the text of 1827, but prints "seraphs " in italics.] 

153 (1827) still. Probably the archaic use in the sense of "ever," 
as in Dreams, 1. 7. 

156(1827) " Which blazes upon Edis' shrine. A deity presiding over 
virtuous love, upon whose imaginary altar a sacred fire was continually 
blazing." — Poe. 

165 round. Spelled " 'round " in 1845. 

191 f. Cf. the opening lines of Byron's Motiody on the Death of 
the Right Hon. R. B. Sheridan : 

When the last sunshine of expiring day 

In summer's twilight weeps itself away, 

Who hath not felt the softness of the hour 

Sink on the heart, as dew along the flower .' 

With a pure feeling which absorbs and awes 

While Nature makes that melancholy pause, 

Her breathing moment on the bridge where Time 

Of light and darkness forms an arch sublime. 

Who hath not shared that calm so still and deep, 

The voiceless thought which would not speak but weep. 

194 (1827) Professor Harrison (I, p. 68) calls attention to the parallel 
with Cardinal Newman's well-known line in his Lead, Kindly Light: 
" Pride ruled my will," etc. 

197 See Poe's note, below, on lines 372-373 of the 1827 edition. 

201 What tho' the moon — the white moon. The word " white " 
must be given the time of two syllables. Poe was fond of the prolonged 
monosyllable; see, for other examples. The Haunted Palace, 1. 12 
(" time "), 1. 40 (" old ") ; Lenore (text of 1843), 1. 58 (" gold "). I have 
inserted a necessary dash at the end of this line. 

202 noon. See the note on Al Aaraaf, Part II, 1. 9. 

203 Her smile is chilly. The moon is spoken of as cold or as 
unsympathetic also in Dreams, 1. 25, Evening Star, 11. 5 f., and Al 
Aaraaf, Part II, 1. 151. — Cf. Lowell's comment on the coldness 
— the " chilly polish " — of the moon, especially on winter nights, in 
A Good Word for JVinter (Riverside edition. III, p. 289). 

209 The comma at the end of this line is omitted in 1845. 

210 I have substituted a period for the dash with which this line 
ends in 1845. 



154 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

213-215 Possibly an echo of Don Jua7i, Canto III, stanza Hi, 11. 1-4 : 

He entered in the house — his home no more, 
For without hearts there is no home ; — and felt 

The solitude of passing his own door 
Without a welcome. 

229 Eblis. See Sale's note (" Preliminary Discourse " on the Koran, 
Philadelphia, 1856, p. 52): "The devil, whom Mohammed named 
Eblis, for his despair, was once one of those angels who are nearest 
to God's presence, called Azazil, and fell, according to the doctrine 
of the Koran (chap, ii), for refusing to pay homage to Adam at the 
command of God." 

243 Cf. Lycidas, 1. 69 : 

Or with the tangles of Ne^ra's hair : 
and Lovelace's To Alt/iea,from PiHson, 11. 1-8 : 

When love with unconfined wings 

Hovers within my gates, — 
And my divine Althea brings 

To whisper at the grates ; 
When I lie tangled in her hair 

And fettered to her eye 
The birds that wanton in the air, 

Know no such liberty. 

The edition of 1831 appends to the poem an imperfect draft of 
A Dreajit within a Dt'eam. 

258-260 (1827) "who hardly will conceive That any should become 
' great,' born In their own sphere. Although Tamerlane speaks this, 
it is not the less true. It is a matter of the greatest difficulty to make 
the generality of mankind believe that one with whom they are upon 
terms of intimacy, shall be called, in the world, a ' great man.' The 
reason is evident. There are few great men. Their actions are conse- 
quently viewed by the mass of the people thro' the medium of distance. 
— The prominent parts of their character are alone noted ; and those 
properties which are minute and common to every one, not being 
observed, seem to have no connection with a great character. 

" Who ever read the private memorials, correspondence, &c., which 
have become so common in our time, without wondering that ' great 
men ' should act and think ' so abominably ' ? " — PoE. 



NOTES 155 

[In 1827 the word "born," in the second Hne of the poet's comment, 
is erroneously repeated, and the restrictive clauses in the fourth and 
ninth lines are set off by commas.] 

Whitty (pp. 285-286) cites this passage in support of the authen- 
ticity of the lines entitled The Great Alan (printed in his edition of 
the poems, p. 143). 

279 (1827) "Her own Alexis, who should plight, &c. That Tamer- 
lane acquir'd his renown under a feigned name is not entirely a 
fiction." — PoE. 

The names " Alexis " and " Ada " (1. 286, 1827) appeared only in the 
earliest text of TaiJterlane. Alexis (variant " Alexius ") was the name 
adopted by a line of Byzantine emperors in the time of the Crusades, 
and also of several emperors of Trebizond in the fourteenth, fifteenth, 
and sixteenth centuries. 

304, 306, 307, 310, 316 (1827) All either lame or cacophonous 
lines. This section seems to have been less carefully revised than 
any other in the poem. 

310-314 (1827) One of the most explicit references to God and his 
relation to the universe to be found in Poe's writings. See on Poe's 
religious beliefs, the introductory note on HyiiDi. 

327 (1827) "Look 'round thee now on Samarcand. I believe it 
was after the battle of Angora that Tamerlane made Samarcand 
his residence. It became for a time the seat of learning and the 
arts." — PoE. 

[In the original, "Angora" is spelled " Angoria."] 

333 (1827) "And who her sov ' reign ? Timur, &c. He was called 
Timur Bek as well as Tamerlane." — PoE. 

337 (1827) "The Zinghis' yet re-echoing fame. The conquests of 
Tamerlane far exceeded those of Zinghis Khan. He boasted to have 
two thirds of the world at his command." — PoE. 

339 (1827) The sound of revelry by night. Cf. Byron's famous line, 
"There was a sound of revelry by night" (Childe Harold, Canto III, 
stanza xxi, 1. i). The line does not appear in any subsequent edition. 

371 (1827) lisp. Evidently a typographical error for "Hst." 

372, 373 (1827) "the sound of the coming darkness [known To those 
whose spirits hark'n]. I have often fancied that I could distinctly hear 
the sound of the darkness, as it steals over the horizon — a foolish fancy 
perhaps, but not more unintelligible than to see music — 

" The mind the music breathing from her face." — Foe. 



156 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

[See, for a similar comment, the note on Al Aaraaf, Part II, 1. 47. — 
In quoting from his text Poe erroneously capitalizes " the " and substi- 
tutes marks of parenthesis for the brackets. — The passage quoted by 
Poe in elucidation of his comment is from Byron's The Bride ofAbydos, 
Canto I, stanza vi, 1. 22.] 

389 (1827) " Let life, then, as the day-flow'r, fall. There is a flow'r 
(I have never known its botanic name), vulgarly called the day flower. 
It blooms beautifully in the day-light, but withers towards evening, and 
by night its leaves appear totally shrivelled and dead. I have forgotten, 
however, to mention in the text, that it Hves again in the morning. If 
it will not flourish in Tartary, I must be forgiven for carrying it 
thither." — Poe. 

The day-flower is also alluded to by Moore, in Evenings in Greece, 

1.11.444-446: 

And delicate as those day-flow'rs. 
Which, while they last, make up, in light 
And sweetness, what they want in hours. 

The botanical name of the species is Coiiunelina. 



SONG (21) 

{1827; 1829; Broad-way Journal, September 20, 1845; ^845) 

(Text : Broadway Jourtial) 

The poem apparently refers to the marriage of Miss Royster. 
Whether or not Poe was actually present at the wedding has not been 
established ; but it has been held that he was in Richmond on the 
day of the marriage, and that he actually appeared, unexpectedly to all, 
at the home of Miss Royster while the wedding party was in progress 
(see E. M. Alfriend in the Literary Era, VIII, p. 489). 

The text follows the Broadway Journal (which is identical with 
1845) except in the punctuation of the initial line, which in the original is 
followed by a dash. 

1 Cf. a line from Mrs. Osgood's drama Elfrida, — "I saw her on 
her bridal day, my liege," — quoted by Poe in a review of her poems 
(Harrison, XIII, p. 109). Whitty (p. 271) cites a similar line, "I saw 
her on the bridal day," from a poem printed in the Philadelphia 
Sattirday Evening Post for 1826. 



NOTES 157 



DREAMS (22) 

(1827) 
(Text: 1827) 

One of four poems published only in the volume of 1827. It was 
omitted in later editions — partly, we may imagine, because of its personal 
nature, partly because of its evident crudities. The poet's harping on 
his disappointed ambitions and his unhappy lot points to 1S26 or 1827 
as the year of composition. 

The text of the poem as published in 1827 is imperfect both in the 
phrasing and in the pointing (see the notes on lines 2, 13, 14, 16, 25, 27). 
It has been corrected in the present edition with the aid of a manu- 
script of the poem, of which the present editor has courteously been 
permitted to avail himself by its owner, Mr. J. P. Morgan, of New 
York City. 

2 In 1827 a comma is erroneously placed after " awak'ning." 

7 still. With the meaning of " ever " (which is the reading of the 
Morgan MS.). 

9-18 The passage refers perhaps to the time of Poe's love-making 
with Miss Royster, but more probably to the period preceding his 
estrangement from Mr. Allan. 

13 In the interest of clearness, I have inserted a comma after 
" revell'd." 

14 In 1827 a comma is erroneously placed after "light." 

16 In climes of mine imagining. In the text of 1827, this is mis- 
printed " Inclines of my imaginary." The present reading is that of the 
Morgan MS. of the poem. 

17, 18 with beings that have been Of mine own thought. Cf. the 
1827 text of A Dream witJii/i a Dream^ 11. d-'] : 

. . . and waking thought 
Of beings that have been. 

Both passages are perhaps echoes of Byron's The Dfeatn, 11. 19-21 : 

The mind can make 
Substance, and people planets of its own 
With beings brighter than have been. 



158 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Cf. also the similar passage from Childe Harold^ Canto III, stanza xiv, 

11.1-3: 

Like the Chaldean, he could watch the stars, 
Till he had peopled them with beings bright 
As their own beams. 

19-26 This experience of the poet — which he interprets to be a 
sort of divine revelation of the gift of genius — is dwelt on in Stanzas^ 
and is mentioned also in Tameiiafie, 1. 73. See in this connection 
Professor Woodberry's comments on the poet's dreaming faculty and 
on the significance of this mood {Life of Poe, I, pp. 43-44). 

23, 24 See Tamerlane, 1. 203, and the note thereon. 

25 In the original the comma is omitted after " was." 

27 I have been happy, tho' [but] in a dream. The word " but " was 
omitted in 1827, but is inserted here on the authority of the Morgan MS. 

29 coloring. Spelled "colouring" in 1827. In the Lorimer Graham 
copy of 1845, however, Poe deletes the ii in several similar spellings. 



SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (23) 

(1827; 1829; Biirton''s Gentleman'' s Magazine, '^xAy, 1839) 

(Text : Burton'' s Gentleman''s Magazine) 

Spirits of the Dead is the earliest of a group of seven poems in 
which Poe deals with the realm of departed spirits (see for others of this 
group the introductory note on T/ie City in the Sea). Here the situation 
is apparently that of the abode of the wicked after death. 

The poem was evidently suggested by Byron's well-known incantation 
at the end of the first scene of the initial act of Manfred, from which 
several passages are paraphrased (see the notes on lines 1-2, 1 1 f., 15-16, 
19-20, 23-26). Byron's incantation is said to have reference to Lady 
Byron and to have been written shortly after his " last fruitless attempt 
at reconciliation " with her. It is possible that Spirits of the Dead was 
inspired, similarly, by Poe's resentment against Miss Royster. 

A manuscript version of the poem — not, however, in Poe's hand- 
writing, though obviously authentic — is described by Stedman and 
Woodberry (X, p. 226). The text followed here is that of Burton'' s 
Gentle7nan''s Magazine, save for the following corrections in punctu- 
ation : the substitution of a colon for a dash at the end of line 4, the 
omission of a comma after line 12, the substitution of a comma and 



NOTES 159 

a semicolon respectively after lines 19 and 20, the insertion of a comma 
after line 24, and the omission of a dash after Hne 28. 

The poem is omitted in 1831 and in 1845, but for what reason it is 
difficult to surmise. No other poem in the edition of 1827 possesses 
larger merit. " Such imaginings," says Professor Woodberry (I, p. 45), 
in commenting on lines 12-21, "might well portend in poetry a genius 
as original as was Blake's in art." 

1, 2 Cf. Manfred, I, i, 11. 205-206: 

By a power to thee unknown, 
Thou canst never be alone. 

The parallel is even closer with the 1827 version of the lines : 

Thy soul shall find itself alone — 
Alone of all on earth — unknown. 

5, 6 that solitude Which is not loneliness. Cf. Childe Ha?-old, 
Canto III, stanza xc, 1. 2: "In solitude, where we are least alone"; 
and see the discussion of the proverb " Never less alone than when 
alone," m Mode7'ii Language Notes, XXIV, pp. 54!, 123, 226; XXV, 
pp. 28 f., 96; XXVI, p. 232; the New York Nation, XCVI, p. 256, 
— where parallels are cited from Shakespeare, Browne, Milton, Cowley, 
Rogers, and others, and the saying is traced as far back as Cicero. To 
the parallels adduced in these articles should be added Wordsworth's 
" Solitude to her Is blithe society " (Characteristics of a Child Three 
Years Old, 11. 12-13). 

6-10 Cf. Dream-Land, 11. 31-38. 

11 f. See Manfred, I, i, 11. 228-229: 

And to thee shall Night deny 
All the quiet of her sky. 

15, 16 Cf. Tamerlane, 11. 203-204. 

17 fever. The text of 1827 has "ferver." The same mistake appears 
in the 1827 version of Stanzas, 1. 10. 

19, 20 A close paraphrase of Byron's lines from his incantadon in 
Manfred (I, ii, 11. 204-205): 

There are shades which will not vanish, 
There are thoughts thou canst not banish. 

22 dew-drop. Perhaps a misprint for " dew-drops " (the reading 
adopted by Stedman and Woodberry and by Harrison), though both 
1829 and Burto)i's retain the reading here adopted. 



loo rilE rOKMS CM- KHGAR ALLAN TOK 

23 A similar situation is found in J'Jic City in tin- Sc\i. 11. 38 {., and 
in llic ] 'alln' of L 'fitrst, 11. 1 1 f. 

23-26 Cf. JfiJft/re;f, 1. i. 11. i99-::o3: 

IWhen] the silent leave.-; are still 
In the shadow of the hill. 
Shall my soul be upon thine 
\Vith a power and with a sign. 

24 mist. The reading of 1827. " wish," is plainly a tvpographioal error. 
26 a symbol and a token. The s.\nio collocation appears in SAiftsas, 

v.\\:\\\(\ sr.\K ^:^) 

(^Tkx r : 1827') 

Er't'ffifii^ Sfitr is noteworthy as being one of the few poems in which 
Poe deals with nature. Other poems in which nature pla\s a part are 
7I////t7/<?//f (^especially lines lOOf. and 310 f. of the edition of 1S27I T//i- 

Lake: 2o . To the River , Al Aaraaf\ Politian (scene iv, 

11. 45-50), and the later To Helen. In each of these, except possibly^ 
the last, the treatment is mainly conventional : and it is almost invariably 
abstract, the moon, the stars, the heavens, the sea, and the wind being 
the objects mi>st frequently mentioned. The only flowers that iu^e re- 
ferred to specifically niore than once are the lily (mentioned five times), 
tlie rose (mentioned four times), the violet (mentioned three times'), and 
the hvacinth and ivy (each mentioned twice"); and the only birds that- 
are mentioned more than once are the eagle, the albatross, and the 
condor (the first mentioned four times, and the other two tw-ice). 

The in-ipulse to the writing of the poem came, apparendy, from one 
of Moore's Irish .Vt/otfiis. " While Gazing on the Moon's Light." the 
first stanza of which Poe parallels fairly closely in lines 5-23. Moore's 
poem begins as follows : 

\Vhile gazing on the nioon's light. 

A moment from her smile I turn'd. 
To look at orbs. that, more bright. 
In lone and distant gloiy burn'd. 
But /<><> far 
Kaeh proud star. 



NOTES i6i 

For me to feel its warming flame ; 

Much more dear 

That mild sphere, 
Which near our planet smilini; came. 

6 cold moon. See the note on Tamerlane, 1. 203. 
11 I have substituted a period for the dash which 1827 erroneously 
]-)laces at the end of the line. 

22 Followed by a comma in 1827. 



A DRKAM WrrillN A DRKAM (26) 

(1827; Yankee, December, iSj() (in part); 1829; 1831 (ai)pencU'd to Taiiu-r- 
ltjnt')\ Fl,i!r of Our rnioii, March ;,i, iS.|()) 

('ri':xi' : /'7(/i,' of ( )iir L hi ion) 

In its earliest form, this poem is entitled 1 iiiilalio)i, — in acknowledg- 
ment, perhaps, of its indebtedness to Byron (see the notes on lines 6, 

7, 9-10). In 1829, it bears the tide To (though to 

whom it was addressed is unknown). The excerpt printed by John Neal 
in the Yankee comprises only lines 13-26. (of the 1829 text). The 1831 
version, which comprises the same lines as the excerpt in the Yankee, 
is appended to Tamerlane. The poem was first given its present title 
in 1849, in the text published in the Flag of Our Union. Poe also 
contemplated republishing the poem in the fall of 1S49, and the proofs 
made for that purpose still exist (see Whitty, p. ix). This version, which 

is entitled To , exhibits two slight variations from the text 

adopted here (see the notes on lines \ and 4). A manuscript copy of 
the last fifteen lines of the poem, sent Mrs. Richmond in 1849 and 
entitled For Anniey also exists; see the facsimile reproduction printed 
in the London Bookman, January, 1909, p. 190. 

The date of composition is uncertain : the poem was perhaps written 
several years before it was first published (see the note on lines 11-14). 
But whether written then or later, it is probable that it was revised to 
some extent after the poet left the Allan home in 1S27 (sec lines 1 1-20 
of the 1827 text). 

In the course of its several republishings, the poem underwent sweep- 
ing changes, no line of the original version being preserved unaltered 
in the final text. Because of the radical departure made from the two 
earliest versions of the poem — the texts of 1827 and 1829 — these 



1 62 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - 

two versions have been reproduced in their entirety in the footnotes 
of the present edition. 

The lyric is manifestly autobiographical, especially in its earlier 
forms. In Imitatioti the poet harps anew on his youthful pride, 
on his dream habit, and on his disappointed ambitions. In the text of 
1829 he writes in much the same vein, though there is connoted now 
something of desperation, and of defiance as well. 

I the. The Examiner proof sheets (see Whitty, p. i 23) substitute 
" thy " ; but this clashes with " you " in the next line, and hence is 
perhaps a printer's error. 

3 In the original a dash stands at the end of this line. 

4 who. Here again the Examiner text, which substitutes " to " for 
" who," has an inferior reading. The retention of the comma before " to " 
in this version tends to confirm the suspicion that this reading is due 
to typographical error. 

6 (1827) waking thought. Byron has the same locution in The 
Dream, 1. 7 : 

They leave a weight upon our waking thoughts. 

7 (1827) Of beings that have been. Cf. Byron's The Drea?n, 1. 21 : 

With beings brighter than have been, etc. 

See also Poe's Dreajns, 11. 17-18. 

8 {1827) hath. Apparently an error for "had." Cf. the correspond- 
ing line (11) in the text of 1829. 

9, 10 (1827) Cf. Manfred, I, i, 11. 212-213 : 

Though thou seest me not pass by, 
Thou shalt feel me with thine eye. 

II a dream within a dream. Cf. Coleridge's Recollections, of 
Love, 1. 22 : 

A dream remembered in a dream. 

The phrase first appeared in Poe's poem in 1 849. 

11-14 (1827) The poet did not entirely relinquish the hope of suc- 
ceeding to all or a part of Mr. Allan's fortune until after the latter's 
death in 1 834, when it was found that he had left him nothing. But 
Allan must have made it reasonably clear by 1827 or earlier that he did 
not intend to make Poe his heir; see his letter of November i, 1824, 
to W. H. Poe (p. xiv, above) and Mrs. Weiss, p. 29. 



NOTES 163 

13 surf-tormented. In 1829 Poe used the phrase " weatherbeaten " ; 
which gave way in 1831 to "wind-beaten"; and this, in turn, was 
discarded for the present reading. 

13-26 (1829) The Yankee and 1831 reproduce only this segment 
of the poem. 

15 Cf. Politian, III, 1. 41 : 

The sands of Time are changed to golden grains. 

18 (1827) sight. A typographical error for "sigh." 
26 (1829) The poet more than once contemplated suicide. See the 
note on The Lake : To , 11. 19-23. 



STANZAS (28) 

(1827) 
(Text : 1827) 

This poem gives us Poe's fullest deliverance on a mysterious experi- 
ence of his youth to which he several times alludes in his earlier verses ; 
namely, the enjoyment, under the influence of solitude and com- 
munion with nature, of some mystical and highly exalted mood, which 
renders him insensible, for the time being, to the realities of the material 
world, and which he interprets as a token of divine favor of some sort 
— a revelation to him of secrets that are ordinarily denied to mortals. 
This experience is akin to that which Wordsworth records of himself in 
his note on the Intimations of Imnioftality, 11. 142 f., and is hinted at in 
the passage from Byron used as motto for the present poem. See also 
Wordsworth's Tinter?i Abbey ^ 11. 41 f. ; Tennyson's The Ancient Sage, 
11. 229-239, and In Memoria7n, xcv, 11. 33-48 ; Lowell's Letters, 
ed. Norton, I, p. 140; and the passage quoted below from Dickens's 
Oliver Twist; and for further analogues and a general discussion 
of similar " trance experiences," cf. the article on " Mysticism," by 
A. S. Pringle-Pattison in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

The poem is one of the most broken and incoherent that Poe wrote, 
and is correspondingly difficult of interpretation. It may have been 
written several years before publication, though it was probably not 
composed before 1823, since Byron's The Island, from which its motto 
is taken, was published in that year. 



1 64 THE. POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE , 

Title. In 1827 the poem is without title. The title adopted here 
was first used by Stedman and Woodberry (X, p. 122). 

Motto. From Byron's The Island^ Canto II, stanza xvi, 11. 13-16. 

1 In youth have I known one. The reference is to the poet himself. 

See the initial lines of The Lake : To , and compare Childe Harold's 

Pilgrifftage, Canto III, stanza iii, 1. i : 

In my youth's summer I did sing of One. 

2 In secret. The phrase is without punctuation in the original. 

5 forth. Made to rhyme with " Earth." In his earlier verses Foe 
has few inexact rhymes ; though in his later work he not infrequently 
adopted a cockney rhyme for the sake of its ludicrous or fantastic effect. 

6 A passionate light. Cf. Dreams, 11. igf., and Tamerlane, 1. 73 
(1827) and 123 (1845); and see the general note, above. — such for his 
spirit was fit. The inversion is awkward. As a rule Poe was admirably 
direct in his word-order. " Few things have greater tendency than in- 
version," he writes in one of his Marginalia (Harrison, XVI, p. 154), 
" to render verse feeble and ineffective. In most cases where a line 
is spoken of as ' forcible,' the force may be referred to directness of 
expression." 

7 In the original the dash is placed after " knew." 

9—16 The poet offers several alternative explanations of the " pas- 
sionate light " of the opening stanza. Perhaps, he says, it was merely 
the influence of the moon (11. 9-10), — though he believes it to possess 
a much deeper significance than anything of which even the ancients 
have written ; or, again, it is possibly " the unembodied essence of a 
thought " with its " quickening spell " — a thought such as may come 
to one suddenly and unexpectedly while contemplating some simple 
and familiar object. 

10 fever. Ingram's correction for "ferver " of the original. Shepherd 
(in his reprint of Tamerlane, p. 14) holds that we cannot be sure that 
" ferver " was not an error for " fervor " ; but the sense calls for 
"fever," and the spelling "ferver" also lends support to it. The 
error came about, in all hkelihood, in the printing — under the influ- 
ence, perhaps, of " fervor " in line 8. A similar mistake was made in 
the 1827 version of Spirits of the Dead, 1. 17. 

11 that wild light. The " passionate light " of line 6. 
14 The comma after " more " was omitted in 1827. 

17-25 Cf. Tamerlane (1827), 11. 140-143, the motto from Byron, and 
the general note above. See also Childe Ha^vld, Canto IV, stanza xxiii : 



NOTES 165 

But ever and anon of griefs subdued 
There comes a token like a scorpion's sting, 
Scarce seen, but with fresh bitterness imbued ; 
And slight withal may be the things which bring 
Back on the heart the weight which it would fling 
Aside for ever: it may be a sound — 
A tone of music — summer's eve — or spring — 
A flower — the wind — the ocean — which shall wound. 
Striking the electric chain wherewith we are darkly bound. 

And note the following passage from Oliver Twist (chap, xxx) : 

The boy stirred and smiled in his sleep, as though these marks of pity 
and compassion had awakened some pleasant dream of a love and affec- 
tion he had never known ; as a strain of gentle music, or the rippling of 
water in a silent place, or the odour of a flower, or even the mention of a 
familiar word, will sometimes call up sudden dim remembrances of scenes 
that never were in this life, which vanish like a breath, and which some 
brief memory of a happier existence, long gone by, would seem to have 
awakened, for no voluntary exertion of the mind can ever recall them. 

20 that object. Inclosed in parentheses in 1827. The dash follow- 
ing " object " has been inserted by the present editor. 

24 A period is placed at the end of the line in 1827. 

24-32 The poet, having endeavored in the second and third stanzas 
to account for the mystic experience which he mentions in the first 
stanza, now endeavors to explain its significance. This experience he 
interprets as symbolic of conditions supramundane and as an evidence 
of the interposition on the part of the Deity in behalf of one who, in 
virtue of the depth of his passion, might otherwise fall away from faith 
and godliness. 

27, 29 The present editor has inserted a comma at the end of each 
of these lines. 

28 Drawn by their heart's passion. It was for the same reason that 
Angelo (in Al Aaraaf, Part II, 11. 176-177) failed to attain to heaven. 
See also Tamerlane (1827), 11. 102 f. : 

'T is not to thee that I should name — 



The magic empire of a flame 
Which ev'n upon this perilous brink 
Hath fix'd my soul, tho' unforgiv'n 
By what it lost for passion — Ileav'n. 



1 66 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - 

A DREAM (30) 

(1827; 1829; Broadway Journal, August 16, 1845; 1845) 

(Text : Broadway Journal) 

This poem was evidently written in the spring or summer of 1827, 
after Poe had run away from the home of his foster-father in Rich- 
mond. The third and fourth lines of a stanza originally prefixed to 
the poem (see the footnotes, p. 30, above) make specific reference to 
the poet's state of mind at this time. 

In 1827 the poem is without title. The text of the Broadway Journal 
— which is followed in the present edition — is identical with that of 1845. 

2 (1827) My spirit spurn'd control. This confession of the poet 
falls in very well with Mr. Allan's description of the youthful Poe in 
his letter to William Henry Poe of November i, 1824 (see the Intro- 
duction, p. xiv). 

3, 4 But a waking dream of life and light Hath left me broken- 
hearted. Perhaps Poe meant that his Richmond friends should find 
in these lines some evidence of relenting on his part. Ingram has 
suggested (p. 45) that Poe may have had a similar purpose in view 
when he adopted as the motto of the 1827 volume a couplet from 
Cowper (Tirociniujn, 11. 444-445) : 

Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are warm. 
And make mistakes for manhood to reform. 

16 To be scanned, apparently, as a trimeter, " day-star" being given 
the time of two iambs. 



"THE HAPPIEST DAY, THE HAPPIEST HOUR" (31) 

(1827) 

(Text: 1827) 

Probably written in 1827 after Poe had left Richmond (see especially 
the last two stanzas). The poem is without title in 1827, and is marred 
by a number of errors in punctuation. 

1 The original has a dash after " day." Other errors in punctuation 
— corrected in the present edition — occur in lines 3 (the insertion of a 



NOTES 167 

comma after " pride "), 5 (the omission of all pointing after " ween "), 
6 (the omission of the comma after "long"), 12 (the omission of the 
comma after " still "), 13 (the use of a dash after " day "), 14 (the use of 
a dash after " see " and the omission of the comma after " seen "), 
15 (the omission of the comma after "power"), 21 (the omission of 
the comma after " alloy "), 22 (the use of a dash after " fiutter"d "). 

2 My sear'd and blighted heart. Cf. Politian, IV, 1. 28 : " My 
seared and blighted name."' 

5 Of power ! said I ? This echoing of the emphatic word from the 
preceding stanza suggests the melodious repetition with which Cole- 
ridge begins the second and the fourth stanzas of his Youth and Age ; 
there can be no actual connection between the two poems, however, since 
Youth and Age (though begun in 1823) was not published until 1828. 

10, 11 A reference, perhaps, to Poe's fear that another would suc- 
ceed to the position that he had held in the Allan household (see also 
A Dream within a Dream, 11. 11-14, text of 1827). 

23 An essence — powerful to destroy. Cf. Byron's Manfred^ I, i, 
1. 233 : 

An essence which hath strength to kill. 



THE LAKE: TO (32) 

(1827 ; 1829 ; 1831 (incorporated in Tamerlane) ; Missionary Memorial for 
1846 (published in 1845) ; 1845) 

(Text: 1845) 

The tone of these lines and the hint of suicide (in line 19) would indi- 
cate that this poem was written shortly before publication — perhaps in 
the spring of 1827. 

The text of 1845 was left unchanged in the Lorimer Graham copy 
of that edition, and evidently represents Poe's latest revision (see the 
variants for lines i, 9, 10, 12, 18). The Missionary Memorial (a New 
York annual), although it bears the date 1846 on its title-page, was 
published in the fall of 1845. Its preface is dated "October, 1845," 
and it was noticed in the New Mirror of November 22, 1845. Poe 
read his last proofs on the volume of 1 845 about the middle of October 
(see Harrison, XIII, p. 31). A manuscript copy of the poem, represent- 
ing a stage midway between 1827 and 1829, is described by Stcdman 
and Woodberry, X, p. 226. 



i6S THE POEMS OE EDGAR ALLAX FOE 

Ingram ^p. 49) expresses the opinion that The Lake is the best of 
the pieces contained in the volume of 1S27; and Woodberry (I. p. 44) 
observes that it shares with Spirits of the Dead the distinction of 
being the only pieces in the volume that have Poe's " peculiar touch." 
It is one of the few poems in which Poe makes anything of nature 
(see the notes on Evening Star). 

Title. The subtitle was first added in 1829. In both 1829 and 1845 
a dash separates title and subtitle. 

I (1S27) In youth's spring it was my lot. Compare C/ii/tfe Harold, 
Canto III, stanza iii, 1. 1 : 

In my youth's summer I did sing of One. 

5 a wild lake. It is unlikelv that Poe had in mind any particular 
lake. There is no lake near Richmond that answers to the desaiption 
that he gives. Professor Kent suggests (Harrison. \TI, p. xii) tliat he 
perhaps had reference to some lake in the hills of Scodand or in 
Switzerland. The poet was in Scotiand in the fall of 1S15, but it is 
reasonably certain that he was never on the Continent i^see the Sewanee 
RevieuK April. 191 2 (pp. 204-205)). 

5 f . The situation here and in tlie concluding stanza suggests the 
scene in Manfred (I. ii, 11. i iX in which the hero of that poem is 
represented as meditating suicide. 

10 I have substituted a comma for the dash with which the line ends 
in 1845. 

II I have inserted a comma after " all "" and a dash after " then." 
18, 19 Cf. Manfred, I. ii. 1. 103 : 

Such would have been for me a fitting tomb. 

19-23 Poe, if we may believe his own statements, did actually attempt 
suicide on one occasion in the fall of i S4S ; see his letter of Novem- 
ber 16. 1S48, to Mrs. Richmond {Letters, p. 313); and see also a letter 
of September 11, 1S35, to J. P. Kennedy (Letters, p. i;^ 

21 In 1845 this line is followed by a dash. 

23 dim lake. Cf. Moore's Ivric beginning. '" I wish I was bv that 
dim lake." of which Poe says in his Poetic Principle : " In the compass 
of the English language I can call to mind no poem more profoundly 
— more weirdlv i>nai^inative, in the best sense." 



NOTES 169 



SONNET — TO SCIENCE (33) 

(1829; Saturday Evening Post, September 11, 1830; Philadelphia Casket, 
October, 1830; 1831 ; Southern Literary Messenger, May, 1836; 
Graha»t's Magazine, June, 1841 ; B^vaJway Journal, July 2, 1845; 
1845) 

(Text: 1845) 

Probably composed in the spring or summer of 1829. The changes 
made in the poem were comparatively few. The variations exhibited by 
the Saturday Evening Post and by the Casket (which merely copies the 
text of the Post) can hardly be chargeable to the poet, and it may be 
that the poem was printed by them without his authorization. The 
Casket of May, 1831, copied three of Poe's early poems, including this, 
from the edition of 1831, making acknowledgment to that volume. 

The sonnet is Poe's protest against the " subtleties which would 
make poetry a study — not a passion," a remonstrance against the con- 
founding of poetry with metaphysics. He touches again on this theme 
in Al Aaraaf, Part II, 11. 163-164: 

Ev'n with us the breath 
Of Science dims the mirror of our joy ; 

and he dwells on the subject in his Letter to B (see the Appendix 

of this volume). Here, after complaining of Wordsworth's insistence on 
the metaphysical in poetry, he expresses the conviction that " learning 
has little to do with the imagination," and cites as an illustration 
Coleridge, who; he holds, " goes wrong by reason of his very pro- 
fundity." He then proceeds, with Coleridge's famous differentiation 
between poetry and science in mind, to formulate a definition of poetry 
to square with these opinions. 

" A poem," he says, echoing in part Coleridge's famous statement 
(Biog)-aphia Literaria, chap, xiv), " in my opinion, is opposed to a 
work of science by having, for its immediate object, pleasure, not truth ; 
to romance, by having for its object an indefinite instead of a definite 
pleasure, being a poem only so far as this object is attained ; romance 
presenting perceptible images with definite, poetry with ?>/definite sensa- 
tions, to which end music is an essential, since the comprehension of 
sweet sound is our most indefinite conception. Music, when combined 
with a pleasurable idea, is poetry ; music without the idea is simply 
music ; the idea without the music is prose from its very definitiveness." 



I/O THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - 

Poe's- theorizing on the subject was, doubtless, prompted by his 
reading of Coleridge ; but the immediate impulse to the writing of this 
sonnet seems to have come from Keats, whose Lamia it echoes in its 
closing lines (see Bronson's American Poems, p. 566). Cf. with lines 9- 
14 the opening lines of Lamia : 

Upon a time, before the faery broods 

Drove Nymph and Satyr from the prosperous woods, 

Before King Oberon's bright diadem, 

Sceptre, and mantle, clasp'd with dewy gem. 

Frighted away the Dryads and the Fauns 

From rushes green, and brakes, and cowshp'd lawns ; 

and see also Lamia, II, 11. 229-238 : 

Do not all charms fly 
At the mere touch of cold philosophy ? 
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven : 
We know her woof, her texture : she is given 
In the dull catalogue of common things. 
Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings, 
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line, 
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine — 
Unweave a rainbow, as it erewhile made 
The tender-person'd Lamia melt into a shade. 

The relation of poetry to science had also been discussed by Leigh 
Hunt in his review of Keats's volume of 1S20 (reprinted in the Astor 
Edition of Keats, pp. 617 f.) and by Macaulay in his essay on Milton. 
See also Moore's T/ie Loves of the Angels (11. 547 f., 65S f.). Words- 
worth's A Poefs Epitaph (11. iS-20) and his Preface to the Lyrical 
Ballads, Emerson's Forbearance,X\6x\&\'s, Realism, and Sidney Lanier's 
The English A'ovel (pp. 27 f.). 

8 he. Graham's, by a misprint, has " be." 

9 In 1845 this line is followed by an interrogation point. 

11 some happier star. A reference apparently to Al .laraaf which 
Poe represents as being the birthplace of the idea of Beauty. 

12 Naiad. The reading " Nais " in the Post and the Casket is doubt- 
less traceable to typographical error. The variant readings exhibited by 
these two texts in lines 2, 3, 1 1, 12, 13 are probably to be explained in 
the same way. 



NOTES 1 7 1 



AL AARAAF (34) 

(i'(7u/:i'f, December, 1829 (in part); 1829; 1S31 ; Philadelphia Saturday 
Museum, March 4, 1843 (in part) ; 1845) 

(Text: 1845) 

Date of Composition. Al Aaraaf was probably begun while Poe 
was in the army (i 827-1 829); apparently it had been completed by 
May, 1829, when it was submitted to William Wirt for his criticism 
(see the fragment of an unpublished letter of Wirt's to Poe, of date 
May 1 1, 1829, now preserved in the " Griswold Papers " in the Boston 
Public Library). In the Broadway Journal of November 22, 1845, 
Poe avers that he wrote the poem when he was only ten years old ; and 
in a letter to John Neal published in the Boston Yankee in December, 
1 829. he declares that most of the volume of 1829, in which Al Aaraaf 
is the leading poem, was written before he was fifteen, that is, before 
1824. But aside from the circumstantial evidence that tells so strongly 
against these statements, there is the evidence of the poem itself, which 
is a much maturer performance than anything in the volume of 1S27. 
It would be difficult to believe that the Poe who composed the halting 
verses of 1827 could have written the song of Nesace in the second 
part of Al Aaraaf. Partial confutation of Poe's statement is also had 
from one of his footnotes, the excerpt from Sumner's comments on 
Milton's Christian Doctrine (see the note on Part I, 1. 105, below): 
Sumner's edition of the Chn'stian Doctrine did not appear until 1825. 

Text. The excerpts of the poem published in the Yankee (comprising 
lines 126-132 of Part I, and 15-39 o^ P^^'^ n)in December, 1829, differ 
but little from the corresponding passage in 1829 (published towards the 
end of December). The only noteworthy variation of later texts is seen in 
1 83 1, which expands the first fifteen lines into twenty-nine. The excerpts 
printed in the Saturday Muscu/n in 1843 include the following lines: 
Part I, 66-67, 70-79: 82-101, 126-129; Part II, 20-21, 24-27, 52-59, 
68-135 (see Stedman and Woodberry, X, p. 217). The text of the poems 
published in the Saturday Musemn I have not seen. For the variants 
exhibited by that periodical I have relied on Stedman and Woodberry. 

The text followed in the present edition is that of 1845 (except for 
slight revisions noted below). 

Meaning and Worth. The title of the poem is drawn from the Koran, 
Al Aaraaf being the name which the Mohammedans give to the realm 



172 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

of departed spirits intermediate between heaven and hell. Poe probably 
used Sale's translation, with his " Preliminary Discourse " which was 
subsequently to furnish him with material for his Israfel. In a foot- 
note on chapter seven of the Koran (entitled Al Ardf), Sale describes 
Al Aaraaf as " a sort of purgatory for those who, though they deserve 
not to be sent to hell, yet have not merits sufficient to gain them 
immediate admittance into paradise, and will be tantalized here for a 
certain time (?) with a bare view of the felicity of that place." And in 
his " Preliminary Discourse " on the Koran he has this, further, to say : 

The Mohammedan writers greatly differ as to the persons who are to be 
found on al Araf. Some imagine it to be a sort of limbo, for the patriarchs 
and prophets, or for the martyrs and those who have been most eminent 
for sanctity, among whom they say there will be also angels in the form of 
men. Others place here such whose good and evil works are so equal that 
they exactly counterpoise each other and therefore deserve neither reward 
nor punishment ; and these, they say, will on the last day be admitted into 
paradise, after they shall have performed an act of adoration, which will be 
imputed to them as a merit, and will make the scale of their good works 
to overbalance. Others suppose this intermediate space will be areceptacle 
for those who have gone to war, without their parents' leave, and therein 
suffered martyrdom ; being excluded paradise for their disobedience, and 
escaping hell because they are martyrs. The breadth of this partition wall 
cannot be supposed to be exceeding great, since not only those who shall 
stand thereon will hold conference with the inhabitants both of paradise 
and hell, but the blessed and the damned themselves will also be able to 
talk to one another. — " Preliminary Discourse " on the Koran, Phila- 
delphia, 1856, p. 68. 

Poe's conception of Al Aaraaf, it will be observed (see especially his 
note on Part II, 1. 1 73), is not entirely in accord with any of these views, 
but it is nearest to that given by Sale in his footnote; it is probable 
that so much of it, at least, as concerns the presence of sorrow in 
Al Aaraaf and the fate of those who inhabit it — the part, indeed, 
which is most significant for Poe's conception — is an independent 
elaboration of Sale's note, made by the poet in the interest of his story. 

Original with Poe, too, no doubt, is the identification of Al Aaraaf 
with the star discovered by the Swedish astronomer, Tycho Brahe ; see 
the first of Poe's explanatory notes, below. 

The poet represents this star as peopled partly by the spirits of 
certain mortals who, in accordance with the Mohammedan tradition, 
were not good enough for heaven, but were too good for hell, and 
partly by certain angels who had dwelt from the beginning in A] 



NOTES 173 

Aaraaf and are devotees of some of the nobler passions, as love and 
beauty, but who are without the supreme knowledge possessed by the 
angels in heaven. 

The central idea of the poem seems to be the divineness of beauty 
— a happy anticipation of Lanier's doctrine of the " holiness of beauty."' 
There is also the subsidiary idea (more specifically dealt with in the 
Sonnet — To Science) that knowledge may incapacitate one for the 
full appreciation of beauty. And in the story with which the poem 
concludes, the idea is developed that love may sometimes blind one 
to the beautiful in its diviner aspects. 

Al Aaraaf is the most formless and the most fragmentary of all 
of Poe's poems. The concluding episode, in particular, is imperfectly 
fused with the rest, and the poem as a whole is loosely knit together 
and without any well-defined middle or end. Evidently the poet became 
entangled in the maze of ideas and images that his fancy had conjured 
up, and found it difficult to contrive a way out. The contrast with his 
later work in the matter of structural unity and in directness and 
lucidity is marked. 

Because of its obscurity the poem has scarcely received justice at 
the hands of the critics and commentators on Poe, most of whom have 
either ignored it altogether or have dwelt on its imperfections to the 
exclusion of all else. Stoddard, for example (I, p. 34), speaks of it 
as " a boy's poem, ambitious but uninteresting " ; Stedman (in the 
Stedman-Woodberry edition of Poe, X, p. xx) describes it as " un- 
intelligible " ; and Professor Kent (the Harrison edition of Poe, VII, 
p. xvii) queries whether it is not, possibly, " a mere exercise in metrical 
manipulation, with no higher purpose than beauty of sound," or perhaps 
a " huge hoax," in which the poet challenges " the wits to vain attempts 
at solving that which has no solution." But that the poem, in spite of 
its many defects, is not without real merit will be apparent on a careful 
examination of it. The idea at base is essentially poetic, some of the 
descriptive passages are genuinely picturesque, and the lyrical passages 
are melodious throughout, the apostrophe to Ligeia in the second half 
of the poem being one of the most musical things that Poe ever wrote. 
The poem marked a notable advance over anything the poet had previ- 
ously done, and proved, once and for all, as Professor Woodberry has 
jusdy observed (I, p. 64), that its " author had a poetic faculty." 

Sources. For the basic idea of his poem and for most of his 
materials Poe relied on his own invention ; in so far as he borrowed 
from others, his chief indebtednesses were to Sale and to Milton and 



i;4 rUK rOKMS OK K.nCAR ALLAN LOK 

to Moore. Front Sale he borrowed the idea of his setting in its larger 
aspects; from Milton he took the sng-gestion of much of the iniiigory 
in the second half of the poem ; and Moore f vanished him with the 
catalogue of flowers near the beginning of his poem and with the 
model for the story of Angelo and lanthe. with which the poeni a.M\- 
cludes. J\ifiit//st LiKff wx^s the chief of Milton's poems on which he 
drew (^see the notes on Tart 1, 1. 115: Tart 11, 11. i-39'i: and 7.<;//.i 
JCooJt/t and 7V/<" /.o^vs 0/ the .-iMi^r/s were the chief among Moore's 
poems (See the notes on Part 1. 11. 48. 55 f.. 66, 78, 118-121 ; Tart II, 
11. isgf., 182-264.V There are also echoes of liyron ^see the notes on 
Part 1, 11. 98-99, and Part II, II. 68f.V and perhaps also of Keats (see 
Part I, 11. 124-125^ and of Marlowe (see Part I, 11. 64-651 

For a careful and accurate, analysis of the poem, see an article by 
Professor W. U. Cairns, " Some Notes on Poe's ' Al Aai-.uU",' " in 
J/«>«/f-/v/ /V//7<>/«>x>' for May, 1915 (XIII, pp. 35-44'!; see also \\ood- 
berry, I, pp. 60-65, '""'•^ )• ^^- Fvnit's IVic- J/ttttf attti Art 0/ Poe^s 
Pottty, pp. 23-32. 

As a motto Poe prefixed to the poem in 1829 a line from Milton's 
Com us (I. I22\ 

\Vhat has night to do with sleep ? 

and after this came a " dedication " from the lyric .7 ^^iv/*; o/SiUk (1. 36\ 
which Toe attributes to Cleveland, 

Who drinks the deepest? — here's to him. 

In 1831 the secoitd of these lines was omitted, and both lines were 
omitted in 1S45. 

The notes with which Loo divked out his poem appe.ir in all thive 
editions (iSag, 1831, iS45\ in each of them being printed at the bottom 
of the pagx". In the present edition they have Ixvn printed along with 
tlie editor's notes. 

Title. On the title Poe has this note in the editions of 1829 and 
1S31 : "A star w;is disaM-ered by Tycho Brahe which burst forth, in 
a moment, with a splendor surpassing that of Jupiter — then gradually 
faded away and became invisible to the naked eye." The s;tme note 
appears in the edition of 1845, but it is there changed so as to read as 
follows : " A star w^\s discovered by Tycho Brahe which appeared sud- 
denly in the hea\'ens — Jittained, in a few days, a brilliancy surpassing 
that of Jupiter — then as suddenly dis;\pi^H.\vix>d, and has never been seen 
since." In 1831 (p. 83^ the title is crronciHisly spelkxl " Al Araaf." 



NOTES 175 

I, 1-16 Instead of these lines, 1831 has a passage of twenty-nine lines 
(sec the footnotes to the text); but in 1845 Toe returned to the text of 1829. 

I, 9 The eomina before " like " does not appear in 1845. 

I, 16 Nesace. I'o be accented, as the scansion estalilishi's, as a tri- 
syllable anil with the stress on the first and last syllables. The name 
was perhaps derived from " Nausikaa " (a Latin form of which is 
N(iush(n')\ or perhaps it was coined, as my friend and colleague, Pro- 
fessor R. II. (iriflith, has suggestetl to me, out of the word " Seneca" 
(see the second note on Part I, 1. i 5S). 

1,17 lolling. A favorite word with Poc ; see the note on 77ie 
S/cr/>rr, 1. 10. 

I, 20, 21 (1 83 1) Compare Shelley's ode '/'o a Skylark, 1. 90 : 
(Hir sweetest songs arc those liial tell of saddest thought. 

I, 22-26 (I. S3 1) See Poc's note on I 'art II, 1. 173. 

I, 26 an anchor'd realm. Not this earth, but Al Aaraaf, which is 
now anchored to the earth. See Part I, 11. 30 f., 143, 158; also Part II, 
I. 242, where it is stated that .\1 Aaraaf is the "nearest of all stars" 
to the earth. 

I, 29 quadruple light. In line 1 S A! Aaraaf is described as being " near 
foiu" bright suns." 

I, 30 yon lovely Earth. The reference is to Al Aaraaf. 

I, 31, 34 In accordance with the custom of his day, Poe placed a 
comma before the parenthesis, and omitted the comma after it. 

I, 43, 44 ... of lilies such as rear'd the head On the fair Capo 
Deucato. The reference is to the scented lilies which are said to grow 
in Leucadia and especially about the cliffs from which Sappho is alleged 
to have thrown herself into the sea. There is an account, to which 
Poe was probably indebted, in Moore's A"7V7////i,'.v /// Greece, 11. 131 f., 
147 f. (sec the note on line 44). 

I, 44 On the fair Capo Deucato. "On Santa Maura — ^olim Deu- 
cadia." — Poic. 

Poe's note was apparently suggested by one of Moore's notes on 
Evenings in Greece (touching the passage, referred to in the preced- 
ing note, in which he mendons Leucadia): "Now Santa Maura — the 
island from whose cliffs Sappho leaped into the sea." 

Deucadia is the modern Leucas. In a school edition of Fdnelon's 
Tt'/t'nuu/ue (ed. Le Brun, Philadelphia, Barrington & Haswell, no date) 
I find in the glossary (p. 413) Leucate described as "cap de I'Epire, 
nomm(5 aujourd'hui, // Capo Ducato.'''' 



1/6 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

I, 47 Of her who lov'd a mortal. " Sappho." — Poe. 
I, 48 The Sephalica, budding with young bees. Suggested by a 
passage in Lalla Rook/i, " The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan," Part II, 

11. 155-159: 

. . . the still sound 
Of falling waters, lulling as the song 
Of Indian bees at sunset, when they throng 
Around the fragrant Nilica, and deep 
In its blue blossoms hum themselves to sleep. 

In a footnote Moore quotes Sir W. Jones to the effect that the 
Nilica is the same as the Sephalica. 

I, 50 And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnam'd. " This flower is 
much noticed by Lewenhoeck and Tournefort. The bee, feeding upon 
its blossom, becomes intoxicated." (Poe.) See lines 55 f., and the note 
thereon, for Poe's indebtedness here to Moore. 

The poet is apparently playing upon the tradition of the asphodel 
(see line 53). Milton relates a similar tradition of the amaranth, which 
Poe may also have had in mind ; see Paradise Lost, III, 11. 353-357 : 

Immortal amarant, a flower which once 

In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life, 

Began to bloom, but, soon for Man's offence 

To Heaven removed where first it gfew, there grows 

And flowers aloft, shading the Fount of Life. 

I, 50—56 In a review of the poems of William W. Lord, in .the 
Broadway Journal for May 24, 1845, Poe quotes these lines (perhaps 
from memory) in a form slightly different from that which appears 
here (see Harrison, XII, p. 156). 

I, 55 f. Cf. Lalla Rookh, " The Fire-Worshippers," Part 1, 11. 46-49: 

Ev'n as those bees of Trebizond, 

Which, from the sunniest flowers that glad 

With their pure smile the gardens round. 
Draw venom forth that drives men mad ! 

Moore quotes against this from Tournefort (Voyage into the Levant 
(London, 1791), III, pp. 66 f.) : "There is a kind of Rhododendros 
about Trebizond, whose flowers the bee feeds upon, and the honey 
thence drives people mad." 

I, 57 The comma after " hour " does not appear in the original. 

I, 64, 65 See the note on Part II, 1. 217, for a possible indebtedness 
here to Marlowe. 



NOTES 177 

I, 66 Nyctanthes. Cf. Lalla Rookh, " The Veiled Prophet of Kho- 
rassan," Part II, 11. 441-443 : 

. . . the sweet night-flower, 
When darkness brings its weeping glories out, 
And spreads its sighs hke frankincense about. 

Moore explains in a footnote that the night-flower is the " sorrowful 
nyctanthes." He mentions the Nyctanthes again in a footnote on 
" The Fire-Worshippers " (introduction to Part IV). — In the original 
the comma is omitted after " Nyctanthes." 

I, 68 "Clytia — The Chrysanthemum Peruvianum, or, to employ a 
better-known term, the turnsol — which turns continually towards the 
sun, covers itself, like Peru, the country from which it comes, with 
dewy clouds which cool and refresh its flowers during the most violent 
heat of the day. — B. de St. Pien-ey — Poe. 

70 " There is cultivated in the king's garden at Paris, a species of 
serpentine aloes without prickles, whose large and beautiful flower 
exhales a strong odour of the vanilla, during the time of its expansion, 
which is very short. It does not glow till towards the month of July — 
you then perceive it gradually open its petals — expand them — fade 
and die. — St. Pierre.'''' — Poe. 

I, 74 " There is found, in the Rhone, a beautiful lily of the Valisnerian 
kind. Its stem will stretch to the length of three or four feet — thus 
preserving its head above water in the swellings of the river." (Poe.) 

— Valisnerian. Poe's spelling of " VaUisnerian." 
1, 76 " The Hyacinth." — Poe. 

" Zante " is the Italian name for Greek ZacyntJuis, which is said 
to have had its origin in Hyacinthus. See the introductory note on 
Somiet — To Zaiite. See also the note below on Part II, 11. 57-58. 

I, 77 Later utilized by the poet as the concluding line of his Sonnet 

— To Zante. See the note on that line for Professor Woodberry's 
suggestion as to an indebtedness to Chateaubriand. 

I, 78 " It is a fiction of the Indians, that Cupid was first seen float- 
ing in one of these down the river Ganges — and that he still loves the 
cradle of his childhood." (Poe.) Cf. Lalla Rookh, "The Light of the 
Haram," 11. 587-592 : 

He little knew how well the boy 

Can float upon a goblet's streams, 
Lighting them with his smile of joy : — 

As bards have seen him in their dreams, 
Down the blue Ganges laughing glide 
Upon a rosy lotus wreath ; — 



1 78 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

upon which Moore has this note : " The Indians feign that Cupid was 
first seen floating down the Ganges on the Nymphtea Nelumbo. — See 
Pennant.'''' 

I, 81 " And golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the 
saints. — Rev. St. JoJui.'" (Foe.) In 1829 Poe adds after "St.Jo/in'' 
the reference " 5, 8." Cf. Longfellow's Evangeline, il. 1 031 -1033 : 

The manifold flowers of the garden 
Poured out their souls in odors, that were their prayers and confessions 
Unto the night. 

I, 89 thy barrier and thy bar. The point beyond which the star 
Al Aaraaf cannot go, in its approach to God and heaven. 

I, 91 f. Apparently the reference is to the expulsion from heaven 
of Lucifer and his angels, because of their presumption in opposing 
God and his decrees {Paradise Lost, Books I, V, VI). But see also 
the note on line 94. 

I, 92 Poe erroneously inserted a comma after " pride " and omitted 
the comma after " throne." 

I, 94 To be carriers of fire. Here there appears to be contamination, 
for the nonce, with the myth of Prometheus. 

I, 98, 99 who livest — that we know — In Eternity — we feel. Cf. 
Byron's Manfred, 111, iv, 11. 125-126: 

Thou hast no power upon me, that I feel ; 
Thou never shalt possess me, that I know. 

I, 100, 101 As Professor Cairns has suggested {Modern Philology, 
XIII, p. 38), this is only a " rhetorical question." 

I, 103 The original is without pointing after " messenger." 
I, 105 A model of their own. 

" The Humanitarians held that God was to be understood as having really 
a human form. — Vide Clarke's Sermons, vol. i, page 26, fol. edit. 

" The drift of Milton's argument leads him to employ language which 
would appear, at first sight, to verge upon their doctrine ; but it will be 
seen immediately, that he guards himself against the charge of having 
adopted one of the most ignorant errors of the dark ages of the church. 
— Dr. Sumner'' s A'otes on IMihon^s Christian Doctrine. 

" This opinion, in spite of many testimonies to the contrary, could never 
have been very general. Andeus, a Syrian of Mesopotamia, was condemned 
for the opinion, as heretical. He lived in the beginning of the fourth 
century. His disciples were called Anthropomorphites. — Vide Du Pin. 



NOTES 179 

" Among Milton's minor poems are these lines : — 

" Dicite, sacrorum praesides nemorum Deae, &c. 
Quis ille primus cujus ex imagine 
Natura solers finxit humanum genus, 
Eternus, incorruptus, asquasvus polo, 
Unusque et universus, exemplar Dei? — And afterwards, 
Non, cui profundum Ccccitas lumen dedit, 
Dircaeus augur vidit hunc alto sinu, &c." — Poe. 

[The second of the foregoing passages quoted by Poe is to be found 
in one of Sumner's notes on the second chapter of The Christian 
Doctrine. The first of these passages also is taken from the same 
note, Sumner giving there the reference, which Poe copies from him, 
to Clarke's Sermons. Poe later used the first three paragraphs of this 
note in an article, " A Few Words about Brainard," in Graham's 
Magazine.^ February, 1842 (see Harrison, XI, p. 21, note). 

The passage from Milton is from his De Idea Platonica Queiiiad- 
moduni Aristoteles Intellexii, 11. i, 7-10, 25-26. These lines are 
rendered by Cowper as follows : 

Ye sister powers, who o'er the sacred groves 
Preside . . . 

. . . inform us who is He, 
That great original by nature chosen 
To be the archetype of human kind, 
Unchangeable, immortal, with the poles 
Themselves coeval, one, yet everywhere. 
An image of the god who gave him being ? 



Never the Theban seer, whose blindness proved 
His best illumination, him beheld 
In secret vision. 

I have taken the liberty of correcting the punctuation in the passage 
quoted from Milton and also of correcting the spelling of " Anthropo- 
morphites " (printed in all these texts " Anthropmorphites "). Two 
other misspelUngs ("Summers'" for "Sumner's" in 1831, and "angur" 
for " augur " (last Hne) in 1829 and 1831) Poe corrected in 1845.] 

I, 106 oh. Spelled with a capital in 1845. 

I, 114 By winged Fantasy. As a footnote to this Hne Poe quotes the 
following from Goethe's Meine Gotiin (1780): 

Seltsamen Tochter Jovis, 
Seinem Schosskinde, 
Der Phantasie. 



l8o THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

[In the original the commas are omitted after the first and second lines.] 
Poe used the passage later as the motto of his Tales of the Grotesque 
and Arabesque, Philadelphia, 1840. 

I, 115 embassy. Message. Probably suggested by Paradise Lost, 
Book III, 1. 658. 

I, 116 See Hnes 142, 147, below, and Part II, 1. 159. 
I, 118-121 Cf. Moore's The Loves of the Auge/s (text of 1823), 
11. 1656 f.: 

Often, when from the Almighty brow 

A lustre came too bright to bear, 
And all the seraph ranks would bow 

Their heads beneath their wings, nor dare 
To look upon the effulgence there. 

See also Loves of the Angels, 11. 932 f. (first cited in this connection by 
Professor Cairns, Modern Philology, XIII, p. 42, note): 

Exhausted, breathless, as she said 
These burning words, her languid head 
Upon the altar's steps she cast, 
As if that brain-throb were its last — 
Till, startled by the breathing, nigh, 
Of lips, that echoed back her sigh, 
Sudden her brow again she rais'd. 

I, 118 This line and the initial lines of most of the verse-paragraphs 
in the second part of the poem are without indentation in 1845. 

I, 122-124 In Spirits of the Dead, 1. 23, the breeze is spoken of as 
the " breath of God." 

I, 124, 125 An echo, perhaps, of Keats's Endynnioi:, II, 1. 675 : 

Silence was music from the holy spheres. 

I, 125 Here the poet has inadvertently fallen into a line of six 
stresses. 

I, 126, 127 Used by Poe as the motto of his Silence. A Fable, in 
the version published in the Baltimore Book for 1 838. 

I, 127 " Silence." A favorite theme with Poe. See the introductory 
note on Son/iet — Silence. — the merest word of all. Byron, in a passage 
in Manfred [III, i, 11. 9-1 1), holds philosophy to be the " merest word " : 

If that I did not know philosophy 
To be of all our vanities the motliest. 
The merest word that ever fooled the ear. 



NOTES i8i 

I, 128 All Nature speaks. See Part II, 11. 60-61, and also Part II, 
1. 124, with Poe's note. Shelley writes in Profnetheus Unbound {W , i, 
1. 257) of " The music of the living grass and air " ; and Huxley in a 
passage in his essay on " Protoplasm " suggests that " the wonderful 
noonday silence of a tropical forest is, after all, due only to the dull- 
ness of our hearing ; and could our ears catch the murmur of these 
tiny Maelstroms, as they whirl in the innumerable myriads of living 
cells which constitute each tree, we should be stunned, as with the 
roar of' a great city." Cf. also Mrs. Osgood's lines in An Exhortation : 

Canst hear the fragrant grass grow up to God, 
With low, perpetual chant of praise and prayer. 

I, 128, 129 In a letter to John Neal (December 29, 1829) sent with 
a copy of the volume of 1829 shortly after its appearance ("see Wood- 
berry, I, p. 369), Poe expresses the opinion that these two lines are 
the " best lines for sound " in all that volume. 

I, 133 " Sightless — too small to be seen. — Legged — PoE. 

I, 134 one sun. Al Aaraaf is represented in line 18 as being " Near 
four bright suns." Like the earth, however, it knew only one moon ; 
see line 1 54. 

134,135 In 1845 a comma is inserted after '"system" and after 
"folly.- 

I, 135 f. Cf. the closing lines of Sonnet Sile?ice for a similar 

idea. Poe is pursuing his notion that man has erred in conceiving of 
God as anthropomorphic and in picturing him and his attributes in 
terms of the material universe. 

137, 138 In 1845 the dash which now ends line 138 was placed at 
the end of line 137. 

I, 145 like fire-flies in Sicilian night. " I have often noticed a 
f>eculiar movement of the fire-flies ; — they will collect in a body and 
fly off, from a common centre, into innumerable radii." — Poe. 

[The texts of 1829 and 1831 have "fire-fly" instead of "fire- 
flies."] 

I, 150 the guilt of man. Just what Poe means is not entirely clear; 
apparently he has reference, in part, to the error of man in conceiving 
of God as anthropomorphic (see the note on line 105) and hence of 
conceiving of his attributes in terms of the material universe Csee 
lines 135 f.), but mainly to his error in ignoring the fact that the 
Deity reveals himself in beauty as well as in power, love, etc. — what 
I take to be the central theme of the poem. 



1 82 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

I, 158 but left not yet her Therasaean reign. That is, she did not 
leave Al Aaraaf at once to execute the commission which has been 
given her : before setting out, she must first collect her bands of angels. 
In Part II, 1. 51, we learn of her return to her temple (which she had 
left before the beginning of the story — see Part I, 1. 27). The 
attempt to collect together her angels furnishes the basis for the action 
of Part II. Poe manages the transition from the first to the second 
part rather clumsily. — Therasaean. " Therasaea, or Therasea, the island 
mentioned by Seneca, which, in a moment, arose from the sea to the 
eyes of astonished mariners." — Poe. 

[The passage to which Poe refers is to be found in Seneca's Qucbs- 
tionum Natm-aliuiii Libri Sepietn^ VI, § xxi.] 

II, 1-39 This passage is in several ways reminiscent of Paradise 
Lost. The opening line appears to have been suggested by the initial 
line of Book II of Paradise Lost. The lines immediately following 
resemble, both in content and in style, Milton's famous simile applied to 
Satan on first beholding the wonders of the terrestrial world {Paradise 
Lost, III, 11. 542 f.). The general description of Nesace's palace, with 
its gorgeous columns (11. 1 1 f .), was probably suggested by Milton's 
account of the building of Pandemonium {Paradise Lost, I, 11. 710 f.); 
and the " window of one circular diamond," through which a " meteor 
chain " of light was admitted from the throne of God (11. 24 f.), may well 
have been suggested originally by the golden stairway which Milton 
represents as let down on occasion from the environs of heaven to the 
roof of the world, or by the aperture through which this stairway 
passed {Paradise Lost, III, 11. 501 f.). See, for further particulars, the 
notes on these several passages. 

II, 1 High on a mountain of enameli'd head. Cf. Paradise Lost, 
II, 1. I : " High on a throne of royal state," etc. 

5 The comma with which this line closes has been inserted by the 
present editor. 

II, 9 noon of night. Cf. Tamei'lane, 1. 202; Dreatns, 1. 24; Evening 
Star, 1. 2 ; Israfcl, 1. 9. 

II, 11 f. Suggested, probably, by Paradise Lost, I, 11. 71 of. ; see 
also the note below on lines 31 f. and the note above on Part II, 11. 1-39. 

II, 16 Poe, in a footnote, quotes the following from Milton's ode 
On the Death of a Fair Lnfant Dying of a Cough, 11. 43-44 : 

Some star which, from the ruin'd roof 

Of shak'd Olympus, by mischance, did fall. 



NOTES 183 

[He takes certain liberties with his text, substituting " did " for 
" didst " in the second line, and also changing slightly the spelling 
and the punctuation. See on the general subject of " Poe's Quotations, 
Book-titles, and Footnotes," the Stedman-Woodberry edition of Poe, 
IV, pp. 2S9-294.] 

Poe might also have cited in this connection Milton's " bright sea 
. . . Of jasper, or of liquid pearl" {Paradise Lost, III, 11. 518-519), 
which occurs in a passage already mentioned (note on lines 1-39), and 
another famous passage in the same book (III, .11. 362-364) describing 
the floor of heaven : 

Now in loose garlands, thick thrown off, the bright 
Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone, 
Impurpled with celestial roses, smiled. 

II, 20 linked light. Neal, in a curious note on the excerpt containing 
this line in the Yankee and Boston Literary 6^(25'^//^ (December, 1829), 
objected to this collocation. " The idea of linked light," he says, " is 
beautiful ; but, the moment you read it aloud, the beauty is gone. To 
say link-ed light would be queer enough, notwithstanding Moore's 
' wreath-ed shell ' ; but to say link"d-light would spoil the rhythm." 
Poe must have chuckled over Neal's comment. 

The idea underlying Poe's image was perhaps suggested by Milton ; 
cf. Paradise Lost, II, 11. ioo4f. : 

Another world 
Hung o'er my realm, linked in a golden chain 
To that side Heaven from whence your legions fell. 

II, 22 f. The " window of one circular diamond," through which 
light was admitted from the throne of God, was probably suggested by 
the stairway which Milton describes in Paradise Lost (III, 11. 503 f.) as 
leading from the throne of God down to the gate of heaven and thence 
to this earth and the Garden of Eden. 

II, 31 f. Cf. the following passage in Milton's description of Pande- 
monium {Paradise Lost, I, 11. 71 3 f.): 

Built like a temple, where pilasters round 
Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid 
With golden architrave ; nor did there want 
Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven. 
The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon 
Nor ^reat Alcairo such magnificence 
Equalled in all their glories. 



1 84 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

II, 35 Achaian. Spelled "Archaian" in 1829 and in the Yankee. 

II, 36 " Voltaire, in speaking of Persepolis, says, ' Je connois bien 
I'admiration qu'inspirent ces mines — mais un palais erige au pied 
d'une chaine des rochers steriles — peut-il etre un chef d'oeuvre des 
arts! ' " — Foe. 

[In 1829 Poe adds : " Voila les argumens de M. Voltaire." In 1845 
steriles is spelled sterils. The entire note is omitted in 1831.] 

II, 36, 37 Tadmor, Persepolis, Balbec. The ruins of Balbec are 
briefly described in Lalla Rookh in " Paradise and the Peri " (11. 383- 
387). Mention is also made, near the beginning of " Paradise and the 
Peri " (in a note on line 58), of the ruins of Persepolis. Poe brings all 
these names into juxtaposition in a passage in his MS. Found in a 
Bottle (Harrison, II, p. 13): "fallen columns at Balbec, and Tadmor, 
and Persepolis." 

II, 38 " ' 0, the wave — ' Ula Deguisi is the Turkish appellation ; 
but, on its own shores, it is called Bahar Loth, or Almotanah. There 
were undoubtedly more than two cities engulphed in the ' dead sea.' 
In the valley of Siddim were five — Adrah, Zeboin, Zoar, Sodom, and 
Gomorrah. Stephen of Byzantium mentions eight, and Strabo thirteen 
(engulphed), — but the last is out of all reason. 

" It is said (Tacitus, Strabo, Josephus, Daniel of St. Saba, Nau, 
Maundrell, Troilo, D'Arvieux) that after an excessive drought, the 
vestiges of columns, walls, &c., are seen above the surface. At aiiy 
season, such remains may be discovered by looking down into the 
transparent lake, and at such distances as would argue the existence 
of many settlements in the space now usurped by the ' Asphaltites.' " 
— Poe. 

[I have altered Poe's punctuation to accord with present-day usage, 
and have also revised the spelling and the pointing of the phrase quoted 
at the beginning of the poet's comment so as to make it accord with the 
text from which it is drawn.] 

II, 39 After this line, the Ya7ikee introduces four lines that do not 
appear elsewhere ; see the variorum footnotes. 

II, 42 " Eyraco — Chaldea." — Poe. 

II, 42, 43 Cf. The Coliseum, 11. 15-16: 

O charms more potent than the rapt Chaldee 
Ever drew down from out the quiet stars ! 

II, 47 "I have often thought I could distinctly hear the sound of 
the darkness as it stole over the horizon." — Poe. 



NOTES 185 

[Poe has a similar note on Tamey-lane, 11. 372-373 (1827).] 

II, 51 And Nesace is in her halls again. That is, she has returned 
from the point at which we first saw her at the opening of the poem — 
her "shrine of flowers" (Part I, 11. 26 f.). She has not as yet started 
on her journey to " the proud orbs that twinkle," to execute God's 
command; she must first arouse her train of spirits (now asleep), 
who are to accompany her (see Part I, 1. 158). 

II, 54 zone. Girdle. 

n, 57, 58 The passage is not clear. " Zanthe " appears to be the 
object of " beneath " and in apposition with " light." See, in this con- 
nection, a letter of Poe's to John Neal (Harrison, VII, p. 260) in which 
he states that in his description of Nesace's temple he has " supposed 
many of the lost sculptures of this world to have flown (in spirit) to 
Al Aaraaf." But see, also. Part I, 1. 76,. where Zante is one of Nesace's 
fairy attendants, a spirit representing the hyacinth. 

II, 60 " Fairies use flowers for their charactery. — Meny Wives of 
Windsory — Poe. 

[The quotation is from Mer?y IVives. V, v, 1. 70.] 

II, 60 f . The passage is vaguely suggestive of the immortal scene 
in the fourth book of Paradise Lost (11. 598 f.) describing the coming 
in of Evening in Paradise. 

II, 65, 66 The commas after "waterfalls," "alone," and "sprang" 
have been inserted by the present editor. 

II, 67 charm. Used in its etymological sense (Latin car?ne?i) of 
"song." Milton employs the word in the same sense in Paradise 
Lost, IV, 1. 642, in a passage following the one just referred to as 
having possibly influenced lines 60 f . 

II, 68 f . Stoddard (I, pp. 31-32) notes that this lyric resembles in 
its movement the " Song of the Soldiers "" in Byron's The Deformed 
Transfortned, I, ii, beginning : 

The black bands came over 
The Alps and the snow. 

The resemblance seems to me to be closer still to another of Byron's 
lyrics, in the same poem, — the Stranger's incantation (I, i), beginning: 

Beautiful shadow 

Of Thetis's boy ! 
Who sleeps in the meadow 

Whose grass grows o'er Troy. 



1 86 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Except for the first line this has quite the same movement as Foe's 
poem and has, besides, much of its silver quality. Byron adopted the 
same measure, also, in the first of the Stranger's incantations in TJie 
Dcfoniied Tra/isfofined, which appears to have influenced a later 
passage of Foe's lyric (see the note, below, on lines 80-83). 

II, 70 from the dreamer. In 1845 the phrase is set off by commas. 

II, 71 "In Scripture is this passage — ' The sun shall not harm thee 
by day, nor the moon by night.' It is perhaps not generally known 
that the moon, in Egypt, has the effect of producing blindness to those 
who sleep with the face exposed to its rays, to which circumstance the 
passage evidently alludes." — Foe. 

[The scriptural passage quoted is Fsalms cxxi, 6. The Authorized 
Version reads " smite " instead of " harm," as quoted by Foe.] 

II, 72, 74 Cf. Byron's lines (Cliilde Harold^ Canto III, stanza xiv, 

■^ ' Like the Chaldean, he could watch the stars, 

Till he had peopled them with beings bright 
As their own beams. 

II, 76 shade, and. See, on this grotesque ending. Foe's note as to 
the ending "glade, and," 11. 1 40-1 41, below. 

II, 80-83 Cf. the first of the Stranger's incantations (11. 1-4) in 
Byron's The Defor)?ied Transformed: 

Shadows of beauty ! 

Shadows of power ! 
Rise to your duty — 

This is the hour ! 

II, 82 That is, to accompany her on her journey to other worlds, in 
accordance with God's command to divulge to them the secrets of her 
" embassy " and to warn them against the error into which man had 
fallen (see Fart I, 11. 147 f-)- 

II, 84, 85 The commas after " tresses" and "dew" do not appear in 
the original editions, although the passage is clearly parenthetic. 

II, 86, 87 In anticipation of the idea developed in the story of 
lanthe and Angelo (11. 1 73 f.), who fell because of the intensity of their 
love for each other. See also line 99, below. 

II, 87 The dash which ended this line in 1845 has been transposed 
to follow line 89. 

II, 88, 89 In IsrafclviQ are told that in heaven Love is a "grown- 
up God." 



NOTES 187 

II, 100 In 1845 the quotation marks introducing this line and line 1 1 2 
are omitted. — Ligeia. Happily characterized by Professor Woodberry 
(I, p. 62) as " the personified harmony of nature." The name was 
appropriately taken from that of one of the Sirens (sometimes spelled 
" Ligea " — as in Comus, 1. 880). It is to be pronounced with a soft g, 
and rhymes with " idea." Poe used the name again as the title of one 
of the best of his stories. 

II, 107 " The albatross is said to sleep on the wing." — Poe. 

See Lalla Rookh, " The Fire-Worshippers," Part II, 11. 203-206: 

Oft the sleeping albatross 
Struck the wild ruins with her wing, 
And from her cloud-rocked slumbering 
Started ; 

and Moore's note on the passage : " These birds sleep in the air." 
Shelley has the same idea in his Lines written in the Bay of Lerici, 
11. 4-6 : 

And like an albatross asleep, 

Balanced on her wings of light. 

Hovered in the purple night. 

II, 117 dreamy. The word has the time of three syllables (see the 
note on Ta?nerlane, 1. 201). In the text pubHshed in the Saturday 
Mitseu7n^ " deep " is inserted before " dreamy." 

II, 119 I have substituted a colon for the dash with which this line 
closes in 1845. 

II, 124 " I met with this idea in an old English tale, which I am now 
unable to obtain and quote from memory : — ' The verie essence and, 
as it were, springeheade and origine of all musiche is the verie pleas- 
aunte sounde which the trees of the forest do make when they growe.' " 
— Poe. 

[I do not know the source of Poe's quotation : perhaps his reference 
to another source than himself is fictitious ; but it is possible that he 
had in mind a passage in Sale's " Preliminary Discourse " (p. 71) on 
the Koran, describing the sensual enjoyments of the Mohammedan 
paradise (a passage which subsequently furnished him the motto of 
his Israfel). This passage runs as follows (the words bearing upon the 
present situation being put in italics) : 

Lest any of the senses should want their proper delight, we are told 
the ear will there be entertained, not only with the ravishing songs of the 
angel Israfil, who has the most melodious voice of all God's creatures, 



1 88 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

and of the daughters of paradise ; but even the trees themselves imll cele- 
brate the divine praises with a harmony exceeding whatever mo7'tals have 
heard; to which will be joined the sonnd of the bells hanging on the trees, 
which will be put in motion by the wind proceeding from the throne of 
God, so often as the blessed wish for music] 

II, 127 are modell'd. That is (to borrow the words of Professor 
J. P. Fruit, The Mind and Art of Foe's Poetry, p. 28), " are to be 
regarded as but earthly imitations of their divine prototypes." Pro- 
fessor Fruit cites in this connection parallel passages from Plato's 
Gorgias and Phcedo. 

II, 128 The comma after " then " is omitted in 1845. 

II, 134 star-isles. Cf. Byron's The Island, Canto II, stanza xi, 

11. 13-15: 

The sea-spread net, the lightly-launched canoe, 
Which stemmed the studded archipelago. 
O'er whose blue bosom rose the starry isles ; 

and The Siege of Corinth, xi, 11. 3-5 : 

Blue roll the waters, blue the sky 
Spreads like an ocean hung on high, 
Bespangled with those isles of light. 

See also Campbell's The Pleasures of Hope, Part II, 11. 206-207 : 

Thy seraph eye shall count the starry train, 
. Like distant isles embosom'd in the main. 

II, 140, 141 " The wild bee will not sleep in the shade if there be 
moonlight. 

" The rhyme in this verse, as in one about sixty lines before, has an 
appearance of affectation. It is, however, imitated from Sir W. Scott, 
or rather from Claud Halcro — in whose mouth I admired its effect : 

" ' O ! were there an island, 
Tho' ever so wild 
Where woman might smile, and 
No man be beguil'd, &c.' " — -Poe. 

See the note on line 76, above. 

[The lines quoted from Scott are from the twelfth chapter of The 
Pirate.'] 

II, 142 The comma after " them " is omitted in 1845. 
II, 151 cold moon. See the note on Tamerlane, 1. 203. 



NOTES 189 

II, 158 I have substituted a comma for the dash with which this line 
ends in 1845. 

II, 159 f. Poe seems to say that the inhabitants of Al Aaraaf 
possessed all the attributes of the angels of heaven except knowledge 
(cf. also Fart I, 1. ii6j; supreme knowledge was denied those who 
chose AI Aaraaf. Its keen light was transmitted to them only indirecdy, 
imperfectly. It was well for them, however, continues the poet (11. 1 62 f.) 
that they did not possess the knowledge of the angels ; since such 
knowledge, in Al Aaraaf, would have meant annihilation to those that 
possessed it. So likewise with us (on earth), adds Poe, even " the 
breath" of knowledge "dims the mirror of our joy." 

Poe develops much the same idea in his Soiuiet — To Science, which 
both in 1829 and in 1831 served as a sort of motto for Al Aaraaf^ 
being influenced there, as I have endeavored to show in the notes, by 
Keats. The idea here may have been suggested to him by a passage 
in the preface to Moore's The Loves of the Angels (text of 1823) and 
by 11. 664 f. of that poem : 

. . . that wish to k>io-ci.\ 

Sad, fatal zeal, so sure of woe ; 
Which, though from Heaven all pure it came, 
Yet stained, misused, brought sin and shame 

On her, on me, on all below ! 

II, 162 The reference is to the death that admitted to Al Aaraaf 
(instead of to heaven or hell), not to the death (with its consequent 
annihilation) that followed upon the indulgence in the " less holy 
pleasures " of Al Aaraaf. 

II, 168 The reference is still (as in line 162) to the death which 
admitted into Al Aaraaf, not the ultimate death of erring ones in Al 
Aaraaf. 

II, 170-173 On Poe's religious views, see the notes on Hymn. 

11,173 "With the Arabians there is a medium between Heaven 
and Hell, where men suffer no punishment, but yet do not attain that 
tranquil and even happiness which they suppose to be characteristic 
of heavenly enjoyment. 

" ' Un no rompido sueno — 
Un dia puro — allegre — libre 
Quiera — 

Libre de amor — de zelo — 
De odio — de esperanza — de rezelo.' — Ltiis Ponce de Leon. 



190 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

"Sorrow is not excluded from 'Al Aaraaf,' but it is that sorrow 
which the living love to cherish for the dead, and which, in some 
minds, resembles the delirium of opium. The passionate excitement 
of Love and the buoyancy of spirit attendant upon intoxication are 
its less holy pleasures — the price of which, to those souls who make 
choice of ' Al Aaraaf ' as their residence after life, is final death and 
annihilation." — PoE. 

See the introductory note, above, containing Sale's comments on 
Al Aaraaf. 

[The quotation from Luis Ponce de Leon is to be found in his 
Poesias, " Libro primero " (ed. R. Fernandez, Madrid, 1 790), p. 2, 
where it reads as follows (Poe, as usual, garbling his text): 

Un no rompido sueno, 

Un dia pure, alegre, libra quiero : 

[then follow eleven lines which Poe skips] 

Libre de amor, de zelo, 

De odio, de esperanzas, de rezelo. 

(An uninterrupted sleep, a day pure, joyful, free, seek [ye] — free from 
love, from zeal, from hate, from hope, from jealousy.)] 

II, 174 This line clearly introduces a new stage in the story, and 
hence has been indented in the present edition. 

II, 176 they fell. That is, Angelo and lanthe, inasmuch as their 
passionate love for each other rendered them deaf to Nesace's sum- 
mons, are condemned to death and annihilation (see Poe's note on 
line 173, above). 

II, 176, 177 Repeated with slight variations in the last two lines 
of the poem. 

II, 178 A maiden-angel and her seraph-lover. lanthe, apparently, 
was native to Al Aaraaf; Angelo (the seraph-lover) had dwelt before 
death on this earth. 

II, 180 See lines 86-87, above. 

II, 181 'mid "tears of perfect moan." 

" There be tears of perfect moan 
Wept for thee in Helicon. — Miltori." — Poe. 

[The lines are from Milton's An Epitaph on the Ma?'chioness of 
Winchester (11. 55-56). Poe substitutes " There " for " Here " in the 
first line.] 



NOTES 191 

II, 181-264 The episode of lanthe and Angelo is introduced, evi- 
dently, to exemplify one of the central truths which the poet wishes to 
teach ; namely, that even so worthy a passion as love may hinder 
one's appreciation of the beautiful. 

The model for his story Poe found in the " First Angel's Story " 
in Moore's The Loves of the Angels (1823). The analogy between the 
two is obvious, both in the setting in time and place and in the nar- 
rative which Angelo tells of his death and his passage thereafter to 
Al Aaraaf. 

The situation which Poe depicts in his dialogue between the angel 
lovers was a favorite one with him ; see, for instance, his Ezras and 
C]iar»iion and his Colloquy of Monos and Una. 

II, 191 See Tamerlane, 11. 139 f., and the note thereon. A similar 
situation appears in Moore's The Loves of t lie Angels, 11. 21 f., 167 f. 

II, 204 An unusually clumsy Hne. Poe wrote John Neal in 1829 
that much correcting of the meter of Al Aaraaf remained to be done 
(see Woodberry, I, p. 369). 

II, 210 f . Perhaps a reminiscence of TJie Loves oftJie Angels, 11. 496 f : 

Can you forget how gradual stole 
The fresh-awakened breath of soul 
Throughout her perfect form .'' 

II, 215 A full stop has been substituted for the dash with which this 
line closes in 1845. — the Parthenon. "It was entire in 1687 — the 
most elevated spot in Athens." — Poe. 

II, 217 

" Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows 
Than have the white breasts of the Queen of Love. 

Ma r I 020 e." — Poe. 

[The passage is from Doctor Fanstits. I, 11. 126-127. Poe follows 
the text of the edition of 161 6. The second of the two lines is echoed, 
apparently, in lines 64-65 of Part I of Al Aaraaf] 

II, 221-224 The passage is Miltonic; cf. Paradise Lost, III, 418 f., 
543 f- 

II, 226 See also lines 243 f., below. This note of regret finds its 
counterpart in The Loves of t lie Angels, 11. 167 f. 

II, 228 A comma has been substituted for the dash with which this 
line ends in the original. 

II, 229 yon world above. That is, this earth ; see line 238. below. 

II, 232 pennon'd. " Pennon — for pinion. — Milton''' — Poe. 



192 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

[Poe has reference, probably, to Paradise Lost, II, 1. 933.] 

II, 237 I have inserted a comma after " soar." 

II, 237-239 So with Satan in his journey up from the gates of 
hell to the rim of the world {Paradise Lost, II, 927 f.). It is in his 
account of Satan's journey that Milton uses the word " pennons " 
(meaning " pinions ""), touched on in the preceding note. 

II, 244 DcEdalion. Foe's misspelling of the adjective " Daedalian," 
used here as a substantive. The word is derived from Daedalus, and 
has reference to the fabled flight of Daedalus with Icarus to the earth, 
and possibly also, in the present instance, to the gifts of Daedalus as 
artificer. (See Gayley's Classic Myths, p. 256.) 

II, 245 thy Earth. That is, this world ; lanthe, apparently, had 
dwelt always in Al Aaraaf (as did the houris in Aidenn). 

II, 253-256 In quoting these lines in 1 848 in his essay, T/ie Rationale 
of I'crse (Harrison, XIV, p. 235), Poe altered Hne 255 to read : " When 
first the phantom's course was found to be " : and in the next line 
substituted " hitherward " for " thitherward." 

II, 257 its glory. That is, of this world, " the heritage of men." 

II, 260 thy star trembled — as doth Beauty then. That is, the earth 
trembled (at the sight of Al Aaraaf) as does Beauty when " beneath 
man's eye " (1. 257). 

II, 262 The night that waned and waned and brought no day. 
Cf. Byron's Darkness, 1. 6 : 

Morn came and went — and came, and brought no day. 

11,263,264 Repeated, with slight changes, from hnes 176-177, 
above. 

ROMANCE (49) 

(1829; 1S31 ; Philadelphia Saturday Museum, March 4, 1S43 ; Broadway 
Journal, August 30, 1S45 ; ^^45) 

(Text: 1845) 

Romance in its later and final forms closely approximates the form 
in which it was first published (1829). But in the edition of 1831 the 
poem is much enlarged, being more than trebled in length. The added 
passages are largely personal in nature — a fact which probably explains 
their omission in subsequent editions. Among the omitted passages is 
one containing- the earliest known allusion to Poe's fondness for drink ; 



NOTES 193 

see line 20 (text of 1831). The date of composition is uncertain, but both 
diction and mood point to a period shortly after the publication of the 
volume of 1827. 

The impulse to the writing of the poem came, perhaps, from Byron's 
ode To Romance, in which the English poet, unlike his American 
disciple, professed to abjure romance and to swear allegiance thence- 
forward to truth. 

In a letter to John Neal (see Woodberry, I, p. 369) Poe expresses 
the opinion that Romance is the " best thing " in every respect except 
" sound " in the volume of 1829, and then adds — in a strain of extrava- 
gant self-praise such as was unusual with him — that he was " certain " 
that the five lines beginning the second stanza (" Of late, eternal Condor 
years," etc.) had " never been surpassed." 

7, 8 The present editor has substituted a comma for a dash at the 
end of line 7 and has inserted a comma at the end of line 8. 

11 Condor years. Cf. the phrase " Condor wings" in The Conque7'or 
Worm, 1. 15. 

14 According to Whitty (p. 268), this line was revised, in a copy of 
1829 presented to his cousin. Miss Herring, so as to read, " I have time 
for no idle cares." 

21 Ci.Israfe/, 11. 16-22. 

34 (1831) between. To be accented on the first syllable; as, also, 
in Al'Aaraaf, Part I, 1. 68. Cf. Wordsworth's She luas a Phantom of 
Delight, 1. 24 : 

A Traveller between life and death. 

47 (1 83 1) Gone are the glory and the gloom. Possibly an echo of 
Wordsworth's Ode on Intimations of Immortality, 11. 56-57 : 

Whither is fled the visionary gleam ? 

Where is it now, the glory and the dream? — 

though Moore has the same collocation in The Loves of the Atigels 
(text of 1823), 11. 1 1 80-1 181 : 

Or, if they did, their gloom was gone, 
Their darkness put a glory on ! 

58-66 (1 831) For another early passage in which the poet testifies to 
his faith in himself, see the letter to Neal of December 29, 1829 
(quoted in part above and reprinted in its entirety by Harrison, VH, 
pp. 259-260). 



194 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

TO (51) 

(1829; Broadrvay Journal, September 20, 1S45; 1845) 

(Text : Broadivay Journal) 

These lines refer, perhaps, to Miss Royster and her rejection of the 
poet (see the account given above in the introductory note on Tatnerlatte). 
The fact that Poe placed the poem, in the edition of 1829, immediately 
after the lines entitled Song (beginning " I saw thee on thy bridal 
day "), which are also thought to refer to Miss Royster, tends to 
support this theory. 

1-3 That is, the bowers appear (in his dreams) to be vocal, to be the 
medium or instrument of the bird's appeal to the ear. The conceit is a 
daring one. But cf. Lanier's Sunrise, 11. 54-57 : 

My gossip, the owl, — is it thou 
That out of the leaves of the low-hanging bough, 

As I pass to the beach, art stirred ? 
Dumb woods, have ye uttered a bird ? 

also his The Dying Words of Stonewall Jackson, 11. 5-6: 

And so the Day, about to yield his breath. 
Utters the stars unto the listening Night ; 

and Symphony, 1. 97 : 

As if a rose might somehow be a throat. 

3, 4 all thy melody Of lip-begotten words. That is, all thy melody 
is that of lip-begotten words — is utterly ungenuine. 

4, 8 In 1845 a dash appears at the end of each of these lines. 

5 The comma after " enshrined " has been inserted by the present 
editor. 

11, 12 Perhaps an allusion to a theory Poe may have held, that 
Mr. Shelton's wealth gave him some advantage over the poet in the 
eyes of Miss Royster ; though Miss Royster declared in later years that 
the opposition to her marriage was solely because of her youth (Apple- 
toft's Magazine, new series, IV, p. 429). At the time of his death, in 
1844, Mr. Shelton was worth about fifty thousand dollars, as is indicated 
by the fact that his wife, as executrix, was required to give bond of a 



NOTES 



^95 



hundred thousand dollars. (The will of A. B. Shelton, filed August 5, 
1S44, is preserved in the Henrico County clerk's office at Richmond. 
Virginia. Among other interesting items in this will is the following 
clause: "If my wife shall marry again then immediately upon the 
happening of that event I do hereby revoke and annul the appointment 
aforesaid of her as my executrix.") 



TO THE RIVER (51) 

(1829; Biirton''s Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1839; Philadelphia Satur- 
day Museum, March 4, 1843; Broadway Jourtial, September 6, 1845; 

1845) 

(Text : 1845) 

One of the few pieces in the edition of 1829 which appear to be 
entirely impersonal. The lines were evidently written as a mere jeu 
iV esprit, perhaps under the influence of Byron's Stanzas to the Po 
(1824). The second stanza of Byron's poem — 

What if thy deep and ample stream should be 
A mirror of my heart, where she may read 

The thousand thoughts I now betray to thee. 

Wild as thy wave, and headlong as thy speed ! — 

finds a fairly close parallel in Foe's second stanza. 

A manuscript version of the poem, bearing the title " In an Album " 
(see Whitty, p. 278), and said to antedate the first publication of the 
poem (1829), is described in the Stedman-Woodberry edition of Poe, X, 
p. 230. It exhibits two variant readings not elsewhere found : " Thy 
pretty self" for "Her worshipper" in line 10, and "lightly" for 
" deeply " in hne 12. 

There is no means of determining the date of the poem other than 
that furnished by the date of first publication. 

3 emblem. For Poe's use of symbolism see an article b}- Federico 
Olivero, " Symbolism in Poe's Poetry," in the Westminster Review for 
August, 1913 (CLXXX, pp. 201-207). 

6 Alberto's daughter. Evidently a conventional lady-love. 

7-14 Cf. the less elaborate — but no less audacious — conceit in the 
preceding poem (11. i -3) ; and note the parallel with Byron's Stanzas to 
the Po pointed out above. 



196 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

TO (52) 

(1829; 1850) 
(Text: 1850) 

In its earliest printed version (1829), this poem is entitled To M . 

Who " M " was, is not known. She was not the poet's early 

Baltimore sweetheart, Mary Devereaux, since the love affair with her 
belongs to a period subsequent to his dismissal from West Point (see 
the account of Augustus Van Cleef in Harper's Monthly, LXXVIII, 
pp. 634 f., and an article by the present editor in the Dial of February 1 7, 
191 6). It is barely possible that the lady referred to is Mrs. Clemm, 
whose given name was Maria ; but the allusions in lines 6 and 20 are 
against this supposition. 

The text of 1829 is both fuller and clearer than that of Griswold's 
edition, adopted here. The poem was not included in 1845, presumably 
because of its personal nature ; but why it was excluded from 1831 
is not clear. 

Griswold based his text on a manuscript of the poem left among 
Poe's effects (see the facsimile by Woodberry, II, opposite page 328). 
Another manuscript, bearing the title " Alone " and almost undecipher- 
able (see Woodberry, II, p. 412), is preserved among the W^ilmer MSS. 
This version approximates the text of 1829 (see Stedman and Woodberry, 
X, pp. 193-194)., 

The mention of the poet's age in line 13 (text of 1829) is probably 
to be interpreted as conventional, but lines 4 and 8 virtually establish 
the date of the poem as later than the spring of 1827. 

3, 4 A quarrel between Poe and his foster-father, John Allan, over 
the poet's gambling debts made at the University of Virginia, preceded 
the latter's departure from the Allan home in the spring of 1827. 
See the letter of Colonel Thomas H. Ellis published in the Richmond 
(Va.) Standard iox May 7, 1881. 

7 (1829) meddle with. The phrase displays an infelicity exceptional 
with Poe, even in his early years. 



NOTES 197 



FAIRY-LAND (53) 

{Yankee, September, 1S29 (in part); 1829; 1831 ; Burton's Gentleman's 
Magazine, August, 1839; Broadivay Journal, October 4, 1845; 1845) 

(Text: 1845) 

The excerpts ixoxvi Fairy-Land ([\. 1-4, 19-28) in the Boston Yankee 
of September, 1829, are in a note " To Correspondents " by the editor, 
John Neal, to whom Poe subsequently dedicated Tamerlane as re- 
published in the volume of 1829. At some time in the summer or 
early autumn of 1829, Poe offered the poem to N. P. Willis for the 
American Monthly Review, of which he was then editor. Willis, in 
publicly announcing the rejection of the poem (Aitierican Monthly, 
November, 1829, I, pp. 586-587), dilates on the pleasure he experi- 
ences in seeing rejected manuscripts of " bad poetry burning within 
the fender," and represents himself as witnessing the destruction of 
a manuscript of the present poem under such circumstances, and as 
catching four lines of the poem (35-38) — a marked passage — as the 
manuscript finally " flashes up in a broad blaze." 

The text of 1831 prefixes to the poem forty lines — highly fantastic 
in nature — that are omitted in all subsequent versions ; and reduces 
the rest of the poem to twenty-four lines. Neal refers to the poem in 
TJie Yankee of December, 1829, as if it then bore the title " Heaven," 
but it is unlikely that Poe had originally authorized the use of this title. 

Fairy-Land is not without originality, but appears to have been influ- 
enced by both Moore and Shelley. In a footnote on line 33 of the earli- 
est edition, Poe enters the comment : " Plagiarism — see the works of 
Thomas Moore — passim." He refers here possibly to a somewhat 
similar passage in Lalla Rookh ("The Fire-Worshippers," Part II, 
1. 203), in which the albatross is mentioned (see line 34 of Faity-Latid) ; 
but it is more likely that the reference is to another passage in Lalla 
Rookh ("The Light of the Haram," 11. i7of., 292 f.), in which Moore 
attempts a description of fairy-land. The resemblance, however, is not 
close, and, in any case, involves nothing of plagiarism. The resemblance 
is closer to some of Shelley's lyrics in the second act of Prometheus 
Unbound — in particular, to the song of the "Echoes" in scene i 
(which pretty clearly influenced the third stanza of Dream-Land), 
first " Semichorus of Spirits " in scene ii, and the " Song of Spirits " 
in scene iii. 



198 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Much the same theme is treated also in Dream-Land (where the 
poet again uses some of the phrasing employed here), and in the group 
of poems — including Al Aaraaf, The City in the Sea, etc. — in which 
Poe deals with the world of departed spirits. 

Professor Woodberry holds (I, p. 65) that Fairy-Land is " the only 
one of the new poems [in 1829] which bears the mark of [Poe's] origi- 
nality," and adds that " there is a unique character in [the] imagery 
that makes it linger in the memory when the crudities of its expression 
are forgotten." Stoddard (I, p. 34) pronounces the poem " the best 
of the minor poems" in 1829. Neal describes it as "nonsense," but 
" rather exquisite nonsense." Willis, in the passage already alluded to 
in the Americati Monthly Review, I, p. 587, speaks of it as " some 
sickly rhymes." Professor James Routh (Modern Language Notes, 
XXIX, pp. 72-73) queries whether the poem was not intended in 
part as a burlesque of Coleridge. 

As published in Burton's Magazine, the following note — probably 
written by Poe, though it is unsigned — is prefixed to the poem : 

" The Fairyland of our companion is not orthodox. His description 
differs from all received accounts of the country — but our readers will 
pardon the extravagance for the vigor of the delineation." 

The text followed in the present edition is that of 1845 save for the 
insertion of a colon at the end of line 4, of a comma after line 1 1 , and 
of a comma after " Videlicet " in line 37. 

1-4 Repeated with verbal variations in Dream-Land, 11. 9-12 : 

Bottomless vales and boundless floods, 
And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods, 
With forms that no man can discover 
For the tears that drip all over. 

These opening lines are also paraUeled in situation and atmosphere by the 
first stanza of The Sleeper, and by Unes 25-27 of The Valley of Ujirest. 

6 (1 831) lolling. See the note on The Sleeper, 1. 10. 

12 (1 831) that what d' ye call it. Perhaps introduced because of its 
grotesqueness. Cf. Gay's farce The What-d' ye Call-it and Milton's 
bastard sonnet, On the New Forcer's of Conscience tmder the Long 
Parliainent, 1. 1 2 : 

By shallow Edwards and Scotch What-d' ye-call ! 

15 Comes down — still down — and down. With this line and those 
immediately following it, cf. the " Song of Spirits " in Shelley's Prome- 
theus Unbound, II, iii, with its refrain of " Down, down ! " 



NOTES 199 

22-24 An early example of Poe's use of parallellism. 

33 On this line in the text of 1829 Poe makes the following extraor- 
dinary comment : " Plagiarism — ■ see the works of Thomas Moore — 
passim — [£■<-/;-." There is no reason to doubt that the note proceeds 
from Poe himself. 

TO HELEN (56) 

(1831 ; Southern Lite7-aiy Messeiiger, March, 1836; Graham's Magazine, 
September, 1841 ; Philadelphia Saturday Museum, March 4, 1843; 
Graham's Magazine, February, 1845; ^^45) 

(Text : 1845) 

To Hele?i is the best-known of Poe's early poems, though it was 
omitted, strangely enough, by Griswold (1850). It was inspired, if we 
may believe Poe's own statement, by his love for Mrs. Jane Stith 
Stanard, a lady of Richmond, who had shown him certain kindly 
attentions on the occasion of a visit to her home while he was a boy 
(see Letters, pp. 294, 300, 422, 424, 427 f.). This lady, whom Poe 
describes in one of his letters to Mrs. Whitman {ibid., p. 294) as " the 
first purely ideal love of my soul," and in a letter to Mrs. Shew (ibid., 
p. 300) as " the truest, tenderest of this world's most womanly souls, 
and an angel to my forlorn and darkened nature," died on April 28, 
1824, leaving the poet a disconsolate worshipper of her memory; and 
"for months after her decease" — so he assured Mrs. Whitman (see 
her volume, Edgar Poe and his Critics, p. 49) — "it was his habit to 
visit nightly the cemetery " where she was buried. Mrs. Clemm, in a 
letter to Mrs. Whitman {Century Magazine, January, 1909 (LXXVII, 
p. 448)), has also testified to his devotion to her. But both Professor 
Woodberry (I, p. 29) and Mrs. Weiss (p. 39), it should be stated, reject 
the accounts of the midnight visits to Mrs. Stanard's grave ; and it may 
be that tradition is not to be relied on as to this particular. A pencil 
sketch of Mrs. Stanard stood above the poet's desk as late as 1846, 
according to Mrs. Weiss (p. 1 22, note). 

The poem was written, so Lowell states in his sketch of Poe, — and 
this sketch passed through Poe's hands before going to the press 
(see Woodberry, II, p. 103), — when the poet was only fourteen years 
old, or about a year before Mrs. Stanard's death. This account, how- 
ever, is hardly to be credited. That Poe should have omitted the poem 
from both 1827 and 1829 had it been completed when these volumes 



200 rHE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

were published is highly improbable ; the style and finish of the poem, 
e\-en in the inferior form of 1831. also tell against so early a date. It 
is \^x«rthv of note, too, that Coleridge's J 'cuth and .-/t.v, which perhaps 
influenced one line of the poem (see the note on line 2V was not 
published until 1S2S. 

To HeUn has been praised without stint by the critics. According 
to Professor Richardson (I, p. Hi), it is the " most perfect " of Poe's 
poems ; Edward Mutton asserts that it is " the most precise and the 
most serene " of all his lyrics {I\ms Fi>fmSy p. xi) : and Edwin Markham 
(I, pp. xxx-xxxi> declares that " Poe ne\-er surpassed the serene exalta- 
tion and divine poise " that it exhibits, and adds that it belongs " with 
the deathless lyrics, with ' Tears, Idle Tears,' * Rose Aylmer,' and the 
rest." Mr. J. M. Robertson (AVtt' ii'j.\ytJ'»\>-. pp. Si-S2> avers that it is 
" one of the most ripely perfect and spiritually charming poems e\-er 
written," and adds that " Merely to credit these ^•erses with ' Horatian 
elegance," as some admiring critics have done, is to render them scant 
justice. They ha\-e not only Horaces fastidiousness of touch (with 
perhaps the single reservation of the unluckily hackne>"ed ' classic 
face *) but the transfiguring atrial ch,arm of pure poetry, which is not 
in Horace's line." Lowell, in his sketch of Poe (reprinted by H,'UTison, 
I, pp. 367-383), makes these comments : " There is a little dimness in 
the filling up> but the grace and symmetry- of the outline are such as 
few poets ever attain. There is a smack of ambrosia about it. . . . All 
is limpid and serene, with a pleasiint dash of the Greek Helicon in it. 
The melody of the whole, too. is remarkable. ... It seems simple, like 
a Greek column, because of its perfection." Stedman (Ti^^ts of Amgriaty 
p, 241) notes that there is some "confusion of imager.." but adds that 
this is "wholly forgotten in the delight afforded by melody, l>Tical 
perfection, sweet and classic grace." 

1 Helen. Mrs, Stanard's given names were "Jane Stith." Poe is said 
to have disliked the name "Jane," and for this reason to ha\-e substi- 
tuted " Helen." The name " Helen " appears also in the 1831 wrsion 
of 7^<r Valle-y iif C/ire-st and in the 1836 edition of Lcnore {A F<Ta«\ 

S Like those Nic^an barks of 3rore. Cf. Coleridge's youtA a/sJ A^, 

Like those trim skiffs, unknown of )-ore — 

which Poe perhaps had more or less N-aguely in mind. !«»»/* trjt^f A^, 
though first drafted in 1823, was not published till 1S28, appearing 
then both in Tk^ Btjou and 7"-^^ LiUmty Skmi^eMfr (see the J f oris 



NOTES 20 1 

of Colend^t', Globe edition, pp. 639 f.). In T/ic Bijou of 1S2S appeared 
also Southey's lines. Imitation from the Persian^ from which Pee 
quoted two versos as a motto for his minor poems in 1829 ; hence 
there is good reason for believing that Poe was acquainted with 
Coleridge's poem. * 

Nic^an. On this epithet Professor W. P. Trent {The Raven, The 
Fall of the House of Usher, and Other Poems and Tales by Poe, 
p. 24, note) suggests that by " the weary, wayworn wanderer " Poe 
perhaps meant Ulysses, and that on that supposition " Nicean " was 
Poe's substitution for " Phaiacian/' Professor C. \V. Kent {Poems 
by Poe, p. 1 34) holds that the " Nicean barks " were " the ships of 
Alexander the Great." Professor F. \'. N. Painter {Poets of the South, 
p. 217) suggests that the reference is to "the ancient Ligurian town 
of Nicaea, now Nice, in France." 

A theory quite different from these, however, was proposed a good 
many years ago by W. M. Rossetti {Xotcs and Queries, 6th series, 
.\I, pp. 323-324, 18S5V Rossetti suggests that " Nicdan " is Poe's mis- 
spelling of " Nyseian," and compares Milton's " Nyseian isle" {Ptiradise 
Lost, 1\', 1. 275), the reference being to the legend of Bacchus accord- 
ing to which he was conveyed in youth to the island of Nysa (off the 
coast of Libya). Poe alludes, according to Rossetti's theory, to " that 
period in the youth of Bacchus when he was conveyed back from 
the island to ' his own native shore,' Amalthea's Horn ; or perhaps to 
some still later period when, having started from' Nysa, and effected 
his renowned conquests, he finally visited, in the same barks wherein 
he and his companions had left Nysa, his natal home, Amalthea's 
Horn. The ' perfumed sea ' would refer to the fragrance diffused from 
paradisal Nysa over the sea which intervenes between that island and 
Amalthea's Horn."' 

The question is one that it is obviously impossible to settle with anv 
definitiveness ; but the view of Rossetti seems to be the most plausible 
of those so far proposed. Poe — if we accept this view — found his 
adjective, perhaps, in Milton's epic, as Rossetti suggests ; perhaps, in 
the source on which Milton had drawn, Diodorus Siculus {Bibliotheca, 
HI, §§66-74). 

6-10 Professor Henry A. Beers {A History of English Romanticis>n 
in the Eighteenth Century, p. 202, note) calls attention to the resem- 
blance between this stanza and the following lines from Thomas ^^'arton's 
I'erses on Sir Joshua Reynolds' Painted Window. 



202 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

No more the sacred window's round disgrace, 
But yield to Grecian groups the shining space . . . 
Thy powerful hand has broke the Gothic chain, 
And brought my bosom back to truth again. 

Professor E. E. Hale {Sfon'cs and Poems by Poe, New York, 1904, 
p. xviii) notes the parallel with Swinburne's Song for the Ce?itenary of 
Walter Savage Landor, stanza xvii, 11. 7-8 : 

And through the trumpet of a child of Rome 
Rang the pure music of the flutes of Greece ; 

and an anonymous reviewer in the Sout/ieni Literary Messenger for 
June, 1857, p. 479, has pointed out the resemblance to a passage in 
Gerald Massey's A Poor Alan's Wife: 

In her worshipful presence, transfigured I stand, 

And the poor man's Enghsh home 
She lights with the Beauty of Greece the grand, 

And the glory of regallest Rome. 

Cf. also with lines 9-10, one of Kipling's couplets : 

Ho, we revel in our chains 

O'er the sorrow that was Spain's, 

from his The Last Chantey (11. 43-44). 

7 hyacintli hair. Cf. The Assignation (Harrison, H, p. in): " Her 
hair . . . clustered . . . round and round her classical head, in curls like 
those of the young hyacinth"; and Ligeia {ibid., H, p. 250): "The 
raven-black, the glossy, the luxuriant and naturally-curling tresses, set- 
ting forth the full force of the Homeric epithet ' hyacinthine.' '' Verity 
takes JMilton to use the word {Paradise Lost, IV, 1. 301 ) to mean " A dark 
colour, perhaps deep brown"' (see his edition of Paradise Lost. p. 461). 
Professor Kent {Poems by Poe, p. 1 34) suggests that the poet perhaps has 
" no reference to the color or curly nature of her hair but to its beauty, 
in memory of the beauty of Hyacinthus." 

9 The line closes with a comma in 1845. 

9, 10 These lines are probably as well known and as frequently 
quoted as any that Poe ever wrote. Edwin Markham (I, p. xxx) pro- 
nounces them to be " two mighty lines that compress into a brief space all 
the rich, high magnificence of dead centuries." Robertson (p. 82) holds 
that they are " reserved for immortality." And Mr. C. L. Moore (in the 
Dial of November 1 6, 1 909) declares that they bear " the seal of ultimate 



NOTES 203 

perfection." The critics have not failed to point out the marv-elous 

improvement the lines underwent in the course of Poe"s several revisions. 

11-13 Reminiscent perhaps of two well-known passages from Byron : 

Within a window'd niche of that high hall 
Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain 

{Childe Harold, Canto III, stanza xxiii, 11. 1-2), 



and 



The Niobe of nations ! there she stands, 
Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe. 
An empty urn within her withered hands 

(Ibid., Canto IV, stanza Ixxix, 11. 

15 Holy Land. Spelled " Holy-Land " in 1845. 



ISRAFEL (57) 

(1831 ; Southern Literacy Messe7ige7; August, 1836; Graham's Magazine, 
October, 1841 ; Philadelphia Saturday Aluseum, March 4, 1843 > Bj-oad- 
■way Jourtial, July 26, 1845 ; 1845) 

(Text : Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

In Israfel Poe gives us, as in Al Aaraaf, a partial expression of his 
poetic creed. In Al Aaraafhe. had sung of the " holiness of beauty " ; 
here he proclaims the belief that the true poet will write from his 
heart, that his numbers will be melodious, and that he will be informed 
with a superior wisdom. In the concluding stanza there is also the hint 
that the poet's success will be conditioned, to some extent, on his' 
environment. 

The angel Israfel is described in Sale's " Preliminary Discourse " on 
the Koran (§ iv) as being one of the four angels who stand highest in 
God's favor and as having " the most melodious voice of all God's 
creatures." Sale's words — "the angel Israfil, who has the most melo- 
dious voice of all God's creatures " — Poe used as the motto of his 
poem, garbling his text, as usual, and interpolating in later texts the 
clause " whose heartstrings are a lute." 

These words, •" whose heartstrings are a lute," which give expression 
to the central idea of the poem, were probably suggested to Poe by two 
lines (41-42) in Beranger's Le Refus: 

Son coeur est un luth suspendu ; 
Sitot qu'on le touche, il resonne, — 



204 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

lines used by Poe in 1839 as the motto of his story The Fall of the 
House of Usher (see the Dial of" November 16, 1909, pp. 374-375). 
Le Refus was called forth by an offer made to Beranger by the French 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, General Frangois Se'bastiani, of a pension 
in acknowledgment of his services in behalf of the people in the Revo- 
lution of July, 1830. Beranger promptly declined the pension, but the 
precise date at which the lines touching his declination were published 
I have been unable to discover ; another brief poem — A ines amis 
devenus ministres — by Beranger relating to M. Sebastiani was pub- 
lished in Le Figaro in January, 1831, and it is probable that Lc Refus 
was published either then or in some other Parisian journal about the 
same time. Israfel was first published in the volume of 1831 (which 
came from the press in April or May of that year). 

The poem must have been composed — if my theory as to its in- 
debtedness to Beranger is correct — -in January or February, 1831. 

The changes made by Poe in republishing his lyric were few, but 
some of them were extremely happy. The initial stanza, for instance, 
originally only five lines in length, ended weakly with the line, " And 
the giddy stars are mute " ; line 25 at first read " Where Love is a grown 
god"; and the fine Hne (37), " Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love," 
read quite tamely in the earliest version, " Thy grief — if any — thy love." 

In its melody and in other lyric qualities, Israfel will impress most 
readers as being one of the rarest of Poe's poems ; and the critics, 
almost without exception, have given it warm praise. Here, says 
Professor Woodberry (I, p. 82), "rings out the lyric burst, the first 
pure song of the poet, the notes most clear and liquid and soaring 
of all he ever sang." Mr. J. M. Robertson (p. 209) holds that Israfel 
is "one of the choicest of melodies — a thing we remember like an air 
of Schubert's " ; and Professor Trent {The Raven, etc., p. 22, note) 
declares that " it may be doubted whether even in the lyrics of Shelley, 
. . . there is to be found any more complete expression of the highest 
poetic rapture than is contained in several of these stanzas." But none 
of the critics have been more enthusiastic in their praise than the late 
E. C. Stedman {Poets of America, p. 248). " Of all [Poe's] lyrics," says 
Stedman, " is not this the most lyrical, — not only charged with music, 
but with light? For once, and in his freest hour of youth, Poe got 
above the sepulchres and mists, even beyond the pale-faced moon, and 
visited the empyrean. There is joy in this carol, and the radiance of 
the skies, and ecstatic possession of the gift of song." And then he 
adds: " If I had any claim to make up a ' Parnassus,' not perhaps of 



NOTES 205 

the most famous English lyrics, but of those which appeal strongly 
to my own poetic sense, and could select but one of Poe's, I confess 
that I should choose ' Israfel,' for pure music, for exaltation, and for 
its original, satisfying quality of rhythmic art." 

Professor Richardson, on the other hand {History of American 
Literature^ II, p. ill), with a want of sympathy such as he displays 
nowhere else in his comments on Poe, speaks of " the trashy verses 
on ' Israfel,' which form so absurd a contrast to the lovely text from 
the Koran which inspired their thought." 

Motto. Printed in 1845 at the foot of the page. Drawn originally, as 
noted above, from Sale's " Preliminary Discourse " on the Koran (§ iv), 
though Poe takes various liberties with his text. Sale's words are " The 
angel Israfil, who has the most melodious voice of all God's creatures." 
Poe in 1831 and in 1836 wrote: "And the angel Israfel who has the 
sweetest voice of all God's creatures." In 1841 he changed this to 
read : " And the angel Israfel, or Israfeli, whose heartstrings are a lute, 
and who is the most musical of all God's creatures." And in subsequent 
texts it was made to read : " And the angel Israfel, whose heartstrings 
are a lute, and who has the sweetest voice of all God's creatures." 
Poe gives credit to the Koran in each instance, except in the Broadway 
Journal (where he credits it to " Sale's Koran"). Sale's words are also 
quoted by Moore in a note on Lalla RookJi (" The Fire-Worshippers," 
Part IV, 1.419), and Professor Woodberry suggests (I, p. 180, note) 
that Poe merely copied from Moore. This may have been the case, 
but that Poe had an early first-hand acquaintance with Sale is pretty 
well established by his notes on Al Aaraaf. 

1 spirit. To be pronounced as one syllable. Cf. also Politia/i, IV, 
1. 20, and V, 1. 88. 

2 " Whose heartstrings are a lute." See the note, above, as to Poe's 
probable indebtedness to Beranger's Le Refus. 

3 None sing so wildly well. P. P. Cooke in the SoutJiern Literacy 
Messenger iox April, 1846 (XII, p. 200), calls attention to the similarity 
of this line to Byron's line {The Bride of Abydos, Canto II, stanza 
xxviii, 1. 41): " He sings so wild and well " ; but expresses the opinion 
that Poe's indebtedness (if any) involves "an unconscious appropriation." 

3-7 Mr. Harry T. Baker {Modern Language Notes, XXV, pp. 94- 
95) suggests a possible connection between these lines and the lines in 
TJie Rime of the Ancient Mariner {\\. 365-366): 
And now it is an angel's song, 
That makes the heavens be mute. 



2o6 THE rOEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN TOE 

5 I have taken the liberty of inserting a necessaiy comma at the end 
of this line. 

8-15 ISLarkham [p. xxxv) objects that this stanza "jars upon the 
high harmony of the song." The word " even," he observes, makes 
"' an inetl'ectual rhyme ; and the remark concerning ' the enamored 
moon ' blushing with love has the ring of sentimentality instead of 
sentiment." 

9 Cf. the note on .-i/ Aamaf, Part H. 1. q. 

11 Cf. Aldrich's The Da-mon Lotur. 11. u f . : 

Blushing with love. 

In the white moonshine 
Lie in my arms, 
So, safe from alarms. 
Imogene. 

13, 14 Poems devoted to the "lost Pleiad" have been written bv 
Mrs. Hemans, "L.K.L.." Simms, Stoddard, and Stedman among 
others. 

23 But the skies that angel trod. The order is inverted : " skies " 
is the object of " trod," and " that " is a demonstrative. (^See, for 
Poe's attitude toward inversion, the note on Sfa/tziis, 1. 6.) 

25, 26 In the original each of these lines closes with a dash. 

26 Houri glances. According to Mohammedan traditions, the houris 
are the beautiful black -eyed nymphs that inhabit paradise, " the enjoy- 
ment of whose company," to quote Sale's " Preliminary Discourse " on 
the Koran (§ iv), " will be a principal felicity of the faithful." They are 
said (according to Sale) to have been " created, not of clay, as mortal 
women are, but of pure musk." and to dwell in pavilions of pearls. 

29 Therefore. Inasmuch as this is the way of heaven. 

32 To thee the laurels belong. Cf. Longfellow's JVapcutake y\S-jy\ 
1. \2: 

Therefore to thee the laurel-leaves belong. 

33 Best bard, because the wisest ! Wisest (\. take if) not in possess- 
ing more of knowledge tlian other bards, but in knowing more of the 
" deep thoughts,'' the love, and the beauty of heaven. Both in Al 
Aaraaf and in 6"<v///f-/ — To SaV/iif Toe takes the position that science 
is hostile to poetry and to the full appreciation of the beautiful. 

37 Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love. Cf. Waller's lines cV; ii 
Girdh: 1. ; : 

My jov. mv grief, my hope, my love. 



NOTES 207 

45-51 Cf. the closing stanza of Shelley's To a Skylark (1820): 

Teach me half the gladness 

That thy brain must know, 
Such harmonious madness 

From my lips would flow, 
The world should listen then — as I am listening now. 



THE CITY IN THE SEA (59) 

(1831 ; Southern Literary Messetiger, h-M^wiX., 1836; American Whig Review, 
April, 1845; Broadway Journal, August 30, 1845; 1^45) 

(Text: 1845) 

The City in the Sea is the most notable of a group of seven poems 
in which Poe deals with the world of spirits, the rest of the group 
being Spirits of the Dead, A I Aaraaf, Fairy-Land, The Valley of 
Unrest, Sonnet — Silence, and Dream-Land. He also treats this theme 
in several of his tales, in particular in Silence. A Fable and in 
Shadow. A Parable. In the present poem, in Spirits of the Dead, 
in The Valley of Uni-est, and incidentally in Sonnet —Silence, he deals 
with the place of departed spirits, with what is variously known in 
Christian tradition as Hades, or Sheol, or Purgatory. In Al Aaraaf 
he deals with a region corresponding to the Mohammedan paradise, 
or to Paradise (or Abraham's Bosom) in Christian tradition. In Fairy- 
Land he is concerned, as the title implies, with the realm of fairies ; 
and in Dream-Lattd ostensibly with the land of dreams. 

In all these he is careful to present his images vaguely, and he is 
constantly ringing the changes on his fundamental conception. There 
is, however, no one of the poems mentioned — nor of the tales — that 
does not possess some motif in common with one or more of the rest. 
The notion of the stillness of the winds, for instance (see lines 38-41 of 
the present poem), recurs also in Spirits of the Dead, in The Valley 
of Unrest, and in Silence. A Fable ; and that of the calmness of the 
waters (see lines 24 f. of the present poem) appears also in The Sleeper; 
while both niotifs recur in Dreafn-Land. In The Valley of Unrest, on 
the other hand, and in Silence. A Fable, the seas are pictured as cease- 
lessly in motion. The skies are, as a rule, pictured as darkened (as in the 
present poem and in Spirits of the Dead), and such of the luminaries 
as are visible as being " without beam " (Spirits of the Dead) or " pale " 



2o8 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

{Fairy-Land) ; but in Sile7ice. A Fable the moon is "crimson in color," 
in Spirits of the Dead the stars (though " without beam ") are " red- 
orbed," and in Dr'eam-Land the skies are " of fire." In Spirits of the 
Dead all is shrouded in mist ; and in The Sleeper^ Fairy-Lajid^ Drea^n- 
Laiid, The Valley of Unrest^ and Silence. A Fable., the " everlasting 
dews " are falling from trees and flowers or from the moon. The lily 
(suggested perhaps by the asphodel of the Elysian Fields) is prominent 
in The Valley of Unrest., The Sleep ei'., Dream-Land, and Silence. A 
Fable-, and shrouded forms are represented as passing to and fro in 
Spirits of the Dead, The Sleeper, and Di'eani-Land. 

That Poe's conception in The City in the Sea is that of the wicked 
dead is indicated by the atmosphere of gloom which pervades the 
" doomed city," and is plainly implied also in the closing lines of the 
poem and in the title adopted in 1836 — The City of Sin. (See, how- 
ever, the note on line 4.) M.ore specifically, the situation with which 
the poet has to do here is that of the " City of Death " (which he 
identifies symbolically, as did Isaiah and the apostle John, with the 
city of Babylon), and in particular with this city shortly before the 
day of the last judgment. 

In the images that he conjures up, Poe was evidently influenced by 
Byron's account of the end of the world in his poem Da?-kness ; and 
in a less degree, by Shelley's Lines written among the Eiiganea?i 
Hills (see W. L. Weber, Selections from the Southern Poets, p. 195). 
It is also reasonably clear that he owed certain hints to the Scriptures — 
in particular, to Isaiah and Revelation. From Byron's poem he appar- 
ently drew the suggestion of most of his landscape effect's — his concep- 
tion of the lurid waters contrasting with the darkness of the heavens, 
and of the stillness of the winds accompanied by the supreme calm 
upon the sea (cf. the notes on lines 12-13, 30-41 )• ^^ indebtedness 
to Shelley is apparent in lines 1 2-29 (with which the third and fourth 
sections of Shelley's poem are to be compared) and in the general idea 
of the destruction of a gloriously beautiful " city in the sea." To Isaiah 
and to Revelation he was indebted, probably, for the idea of the City 
of Death, and for its identification with the city of Babylon, and also 
perhaps for some of the minor details (see an article entitled " E. A. Poe: 
An Unnoticed Plagiarism," in the London Academy for June 25, 1910, 
pp. 612-613, and the comments, below, on lines 18, 23^ 37, 50-51, 52-53). 

Despite these " influences," however, The City in the Sea is one of 
the most original of Poe's poems ; and it is Hkewise one of his most imagi- 
native. E. C. Stedman {Poets of America, p. 242) expresses the opinion 



NOTES 209 

that it is superior to Tlie Raven in the matter of imagination ; Professor 
Richard Burton declares {Literary Leaders of A7)ierica, p. 85) that there 
are " few greater poems of mood and picture ... in all literature " ; and 
Edwin Markham (I, pp. xxxvf.) observes that although "Browning in 
' Abt Vogler,' Coleridge in ' Kubla Khan,' have built up fair imaginations 
of tower and dome and minaret, . . . the wizardry of Poe in his ' City in 
the Sea ' has left us the most rare, the most mysterious, of all such 
ethereal structures. . . . Never before," he adds, "has the 'palpable 
obscure ' been bodied forth with a more cunning and gloomy 
imagination." 

Title. The title was repeatedly changed. It first read The Doomed 
City (1831); this presently gave way to Tlie City of Si7i (1836); and 
this, in turn, to Tlie City in the Sea. A Prophecy [American Review., 
1S45). The present title was first adopted in the Bi'oadway Journal. 

4 This clashes with the interpretation that I have proposed above ; 
namely, that the " city in the sea " is the abode of wicked spirits 
(only) after death. That the governing idea, however, is that of the 
abiding-place of the wicked dead is not only indicated (as I have already 
noted) by the title adopted in 1836, but by the association, symbolically, 
of the " city in the sea" with Babylon. 

9 lifting winds. Professor A. G. Newcomer {Poe : Poems and 

Tales, p. 300) calls attention to the parallel with N. P. Willis's Absalom 

(1827), 11. 5-7: . 

1 he willow leaves, 

With a soft cheek upon the lulling tide. 

Forgot the lifting winds. 

9-12 Professor Woodberry comments (I, p. 82): "The melodious 
monotone, the justness of touch in lines like these, are as artistic as the 
idea is poetic." 

12, 13 Cf. Byron's Darktiess, 11. 2-4: 

And the stars 
Did wander darkling in the eternal space, 
Rayless, and pathless. 

12-29 It is in these lines that the analogy with Shelley's Lines 
writtett amo?tg the Euganean Hills is plainest. 

18 Babylon-like walls. See the quotation from Revelation xvi, in 
the note on lines 50-51 ; also Revelation xvii and xviii and Isaiah xiv, 
in which Babylon is represented as the type of the wicked city. 

23 viol. A stringed instrument similar to the violin ; here appar- 
endy one of the sculptured monuments of the marvelous shrines 



2IO THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

mentioned in line 21. The word may have been suggested to Poe by 
Isaiah xiv, 11:" Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the 
noise of thy viols" (see the London Academy^ June 25, 1910, p. 613). 
30-41 Cf. Byron's Darkness, 11. 73-81 : 

The rivers, lakes, and ocean all stood still. 

And nothing stirred within their silent depths ; 

Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea. 

And their masts fell down piecemeal ; as they dropped 

They slept on the abyss without a surge — 

The waves were dead ; the tides were in their grave, 

The Moon, their mistress, had expired before 

The winds were withered in the stagnant air. 

And the clouds perished. 

37 Cf. Revelation iv, 6 : " And before the throne there was a sea 
of glass like unto crystal " ; also Revelation xv, 2 : " And I saw as 
it were a sea of glass mingled with fire." See also Spirits of the Dead, 
1. 23, and Tlie Valley of Unrest, 11. 1 1 f. 

39 far-off happier sea. See The Sleeper, 1. 32 : " far-off seas" ; and 

To F , 11. 9-10 : 

Like some enchanted far-off isle 
In some tumultuous sea. 

49 The hours are breathing faint and low. So also in Politian, III, 
1. 40 : " the Hours are breathing low." Shelley in The Indian Serenade 
has the line (3) : 

When the winds are breathing low. 

50,51 Cf. Revelation xvi, 18-19: 

And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; and there was 
a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so 
mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into 
three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came in 
remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierce- 
ness of his wrath. 

Note also Revelation xx, 14: "And death and hell were cast into 
the lake of fire." 

52, 53 Probably a reminiscence of Isaiah xiv, 9 : " Hell from be- 
neath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming : it stirreth up the 
dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth ; it hath raised up 
from their thrones all the kings of the nations." 



NOTES 211 



THE SLEEPER (63) 



(1831 ; Southern Literary Messenger, May, 1836; Griswold's Poets and 
Poetry of America, 1842; Philadelphia Saturday Museum, March 4, 
1843; Broad-iiHiy Journal, May 3, 1845; ^^45) 

(Text : Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

The Sleeper, by reason of its fundamental situation and of its atmos- 
phere, associates itself with the group of poems in which Poe deals 
with the world of shades (see the general note on The City in the Sea). 
The setting, however, is not that, apparently, of the grave or of the 
place of shadows, but of the death-chamber, in which the body has 
lain for some time and from which it is soon to be removed to its last 
resting-place. About this picture the poet has thrown an atmosphere 
much the same as that which invests his spirit world as depicted in 
other poems belonging to this group. The analogy is closest with The 
Valley of Unrest and Dream-Land. 

The Sleeper, also, belongs with the more famous group of poems, 
in which the poet treats of the death of a beautiful woman — or, more 
precisely, with the grief of a bereaved lover for his dead lady. Others 
of this group are Le?io?-e, To One in Paradise, The Raveii, Ulalu^ne, 
and Annabel Lee; and Tamerlane and the Sonnet — To Zante make 
incidental use of the same theme. To the same genre, also, belong 
Bridal Ballad and T'or Annie, in which the lover is represented 
as dead. 

How far these poems actually reflect the poet's own experiences and 
sorrows it is impossible to say. Suggestions are made in the general 
notes on each as to the possible autobiographical allusions contained 
in them. P"or the present poem it has been suggested (by R. H. 
Stoddard in Harper'' s Motithly, XLV, p. 559, 1872) that the poet 
refers to Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard, who had also been the inspiration, 
according to Poe's account, of the earlier lines To Helen. There is 
nothing in the content and spirit of the poem to contradict this view ; 
and it is in keeping with a statement made by Poe (in a letter written, 
apparently, in 1845 — see Letters, p. 207) that he wrote the lines when 
" quite a boy." It should be added, however, that there is nothing to 
show that the poem was not written in memory of the first Mrs. Allan 
(see the notes on Lenore). And there is, again, of course, the possibility 
that the poet merely refers to an ideal love. 



212 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

In 1 83 1 and in the Messenger (1836) The Sleeper is entitled Irene. 
The present title was substituted in 1842. The changes made in the 
body of the poem were, as the footnotes make evident, both numerous 
and varied. 

The text here adopted — that of the Lorimer Graham copy of 1845 
— differs slightly from all earlier versions. The same text is preserved 
in some proofs intended by Poe for publication in the Richmond 
Exainincr in 1849 (see Whitty, p. viii). There is also a manuscript 
copy of the poem, now in the possession of Captain William Gordon 
McCabe, of Richmond, \'irginia, which bears the title Irene iJie Dead 
(see Whitty, p. 207). 

In one of his letters (Plarrison, XVII, p. 207) Poe expresses the 
opinion that TJie Sleeper is " in the higher qualities of poetry " superior 
to Tlie Raven ; and a similar view has been expressed by J. T. Trow- 
bridge in ]\Iy Own Story (1902, p. 184): " Poe's Sleeper, — the most 
strikingly beautiful of all the productions of that aberrant genius." 

Title. In 1845 followed by a colon. In the present edition all end 
punctuation with mid-page titles is omitted. 

10 lolls. The word occurs also in Al Aaraaf, Part I, 1. 17 ; Faijy- 
Land(\%-3,T.\ 1. 6; Coliseum, 1. 22; 7m^ Drcani-Iand, 11. 20, 24. Margaret 
Fuller, in her review of Poe's poems (1845) in the New York Tribune 
of November 26, 1845 (reprinted in her Life WitJiout and Life WitJiin, 
p. 91), complains of Poe's use of the word here. "This word lolls," 
she says, " presents a vulgar image to our thought." It is also ob- 
jected to by an anonymous contributor to The Talis7nan and Odd 
Fellows'' Magazine of September, 1 846, who speaks of Poe as " the 
tomahawk man," "the Comanche of literature . . . who uses the word 
loll on nearly every page." 

18-36 In 1831 these lines are represented as being " hummed " by 
the moon ; see lines 25 f. of that text. 

26 fringed lid. Cf. The Tempest, I, ii, 1. 407 : 

The fringed curtains of thine eye advance. 

35 thy length of tress. Cf. Lenore (1831), 1. 28. 
37, 38 (1 831) These Unes suggest Porphyro's passionate words in 
Keats's The Eve of St. Agnes, 11. 276-278 : 

And now, my love, my seraph fair, awake ! 
Thou art my heaven, and I thine eremite : 
Open thine eyes, for meek St. Agnes' sake. 



NOTES 213 

37-44 Instead of these lines, there appeared in 1831 {Irene, 11. 41 f.) 
a passage which gives the reason for the poet's prayer that the sleep 
of his loved one may be deep as well as enduring; the dead sleep, so 
holds the poet, only so long as their loved ones on earth continue to 
grieve for them. This idea is more fully developed in a gruesome 
passage in The Preniature JJuria/ (HsLrnaou, V, p. 267;: 

I looked ; and the unseen figure . . . had caused to be thrown open the 
graves of ail mankind ; ... so that I could see into the innermost recesses, 
and there view the shrouded bodies in their sad and solemn slumbers 
with the worm. But, alas ! the real sleepers were fewer, by many millions, 
than those who slumbered not at all ; and there was a feeble struggling ; 
and there was a general sad unrest; and from out the depths of the 
countless pits there came a melancholy rustling from the garments of 
the buried. And of those who seemed tranquilly to repose, I saw that a 
vast number had changed, in a greater or less degree, the rigid and 
uneasy position in which they had originally been entombed. 

43 unopened eye. Griswold, in his Toe/s and Poetry of America 
(1842), printed this "unclosed eye." Poe protested against this in 
one of his letters to Griswold (Letters, p. 203), but the error remained 
uncorrected in all subsequent editions. 

45-47 Cf. Shelley's Rosalind and Helen, 11. 345-347: 

And the crawling worms were cradling her 
To a sleep more deep and so more sweet 
Than a baby's rocked on its nurse's knee ; 

see also Byron's Giaour, 11. 945-948 : 

It is as if the dead could feel 
The icy worm around them steal, 
And shudder, as the reptiles creep 
To revel o'er their rotting sleep, — 

which is so close in one line to the earlier ('1831; form of line 47 : 
No icy worms about her creep, 

as to beget the suspicion that Poe wrote with his Byron in mind. 

48-59 (i83i)The passage is reminiscent of The Lake: To , 

especially of the last stanza of that poem. 

54 f. Cf. I^enore (1831J, 11. 29-31. 



214 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



LENORE (68) 

(1831 ; Southern Literary Messenger, January, 1836 ; Pioneer, February, 
1843 > Philadelphia Saturday Museum, March 4, 1843 ; Graham's 
Magazine, February, 1845; Broadivay Jouriial, August 16, 1845; ^^45 > 
Richmond Whig, September 18, 1849 ! Griswold's Poets and Poetry of 
America, loth edition) 

(Text : Richmond Whig) 

Entitled A Pcean in 1831 and in the Sotithem Literary Messenger 
(1836). These two earlier versions adopt a short ballad stanza, while 
the text published in Lowell's Pioneer is printed in an odelike stanza 
(see the footnotes of this edition). The present stanza-form was first 
adopted in the text published in Graham''s Magazine (in Lowell's 
sketch of Poe) in February, 1845, the manuscript of which was sent 
to the printers in October, 1844, at about the time that The Raven 
may be presumed to have been completed (see Woodberry, II, pp. 100, 
103-104). In Griswold's Poets and Poetry of America, loth edition 
(which appeared in December, 1849), the poem is broken up into half- 
lines. Whether or not Poe authorized this variation is uncertain, 
though it is known that he gave his approval to a similar variation 
in the stanza of The Raven. In addition to the changes in title and 
in stanza-form, the poem underwent numerous alterations of other 
sorts in the course of its half-dozen revampings, and was immensely 
improved, especially in tone and finish. 

The text here adopted, that of the Richmond Whig, appeared in that 
paper during Poe's last visit to Richmond in the summer of 1 849. The 
text published by Griswold in his poetical anthology was probably based 
on a manuscript sent him by the poet in 1849 before setting out for 
Richmond. Besides these late texts, there is also a late version pre- 
served in proof sheets intended for publication in the Richmond Ex- 
aminer (Whitty, p. viii) ; and there are autographic revisions in the 
Lorimer Graham copy of 1845. 

The poem was probably written in 1830. Poe declares in one of his 
late reviews (Griswold, III, p. 21 1) that it was " first published in 1830," 
but his memory as to dates was not to be relied on. 

To whom Poe refers in Lenore — or whether he refers to anyone 
in particular — it is impossible to say. Ingram holds (p. 27), as does 
also Mrs. Weiss (p. 122, note), that the poem was written in memory 
of Mrs. Stanard ; and this view is supported by the fact that Poe, in 



NOTES 215 

line 38 of the text published in the Southern Literary Alessenger {iS^^G), 
gives to his heroine the name " Helen" (cf. the notes on the earlier lines 
71? Helen). Professor Harrison suggests (I, p. 95) that the poem " may 
be in its first draft a memorial dirge in memory of the first Mrs. Allan " 
— a view. that has the support of several lines (9, 13-15, 35-36) in the 
text of 1 836, as well as of certain Hnes (i 5-19) in the Pioneer version of 
1 843 ; and is further supported by the fact that Mrs. Allan died shortly 
before the poem was written. But J. M. Daniel makes the statement 
in an article on Poe (Southern Literary Messenger, March, 1850, 
XVI, p. 177) that Poe declared to him shortly before his death that 
Mrs. Shelton was the " original of his Lenore." This falls in with 
the theory that I have advanced below in the interpretation of Bridal 
Ballad and Sonnet — To Zante. But it should be borne in mind that 
Daniel was not a trustworthy witness ; and that Poe at the time that 
he is reported to have made this statement to Daniel was paying suit 
to Mrs. Shelton. It should be noted, too, that in the tale Eleonora 
Poe's heroine, from whom the story takes its name, is plainly none 
other than his wife. 

The name "Lenore" first appeared in the poem in 1843. It was 
perhaps suggested to Poe by Biirger, whose ballad Lenore has to do 
with a situation resembling in some respects that of Poe's poem, and 
was widely popular in England during the first quarter of Poe's century 
(see Beers, A Histojy of English Romanticism in the Eighteoith Cen- 
tury, p. 392, note, and A. Brandl, " Lenore in England," in E. Schmidt's 
Characteristiken, pp. 244 f., Berlin, 1886). Poe refers to Btirger's ballad 
in two of his reviews printed in the Southern Literary Messenger in 
1836 (Harrison, IX, pp. 173, 202). 

T. W. Higginson in his Life of L^07igfellow (p. 269) declares that 
the poem in its 1843 version is " perhaps the first piece of lyric measure 
in our Hterature " ; and in his Short Studies of American Authors 
(p. 15) he writes: "Never in American literature, I think, was such 
a fountain of melody flung into the air as when ' Lenore ' first appeared 
in ' The Pioneer ' ; and never did fountain so drop downward as when 
Poe rearranged it in its present form." But Professor Richardson 
(p. xxx) complains of the " Beautiful Snow arrangement " of the Pioneer 
version ; and Professor Fruit, also, defends the adoption of the long- 
line stanza {Mind and Art of Poe'' s Poetry, p. loi). 

1 broken is the golden bowl. Cf. Ecclesiastes xii, 6. 

3 Guy De Vere. Not in the versions of 1831 and 1836. Possibly 
suggested (see the query of Professor Kent, Poe's Poems, p. 145) by 



2l6 THE rOF.MS OF F.nCAK ALLAN TOE 

Tenm-son s "Lady Clara \'eie de \'cre" (^1832); possibly by J. P. Ward's 
novel iV J'c'fY, though the family name " De \"ere " was doubtless well 
known in Poo s time. 

8 The second "ye" appoai-s for tlio first time in the // ///<': it injures, 
I think, the rhythm, and is perhaps traceable to a typographical error. 

8-12 The reply of Guy De \"ere, the lover, to Lenoiv's false friends. 
— The comma after " wealth " was inserted by the present editor : and 
so also with the comma after the second " yours " in line 1 1 and the 
comma before " and " in line 1 2. 

9 in feeble health. This phrase, ^Lirkham (L p. xxix") holds to be an 
" inexcusable blemish, a bald phrase of the prose man ... a mud-ball 
stuck upon the radiant front of the rainbow." 

10-lS Toe in a vitriolic notice of his one-time friend. H. B. Hii-st. 
apparently not printed in Toe's lifetime, but published by Griswold 
(IIL pp. 209 f.\ calls attention to what he pronounces a plagiarism 
from these lines in Hirst's 77ii' Pen<ince 0/ Rohttit 

IS The reading of 1845 and of the Lorimer Graham cx>py — " Pecca- 
vinius X but rave not thus ! and let a Sabbath song " — seems to me 
superior to the reading of the Ulti):. 

15-19 (P:\->/:irr) Possibly an allusion to Mrs. All.m i^see the introduc- 
torv note, aboveX 

20 Avaunt ! — avaunt ! to friends from fiends. The Lorimer Ciraham 
reading — "Avaunt! avaunt! from fiends below" — is both simpler 
and more euphonious. 

25, 26 These lines were imitated bv \V. W. Lord in his J\'i\i^\7m 
(see Hmrison, XH, 156^: 

They, albeit with inward pain. 

\Vho sought to sing thy dirge, must sing thy Pa^in ! 

They are perhaps echoed, also, by T. P. Aldrich, in his (><jV on the 
Unveiling of the Shaxc Memorial (11. 44-45"! : 

A pnean. not a knell. 
For heroes dying so ! 

and by Lowell in his Hat\>ard Commemoration Ode^ 11. 242-244: 

1 sweep them for a pjean, but they wane 

.\g,\in and yet again 
Into a dirge, and die away, in pain. 

26 Psean. Spelled " Pawn " in the original. 



NOTES 217 

65, 56 {Pio/tt-er) Printed in tho Pioneer (by an obvious error ni" llic 
press) as one line. 

68 {J^ionci-r) gold. For Poe's use of a monosyllable with dissyllabic 
value, see the note on Pamciiane, 1. 201. 



THE VALLEY OF UNREST (72) 

(1831; Southern Lih->v>y Messei!_^e>\ February, iS^o; .Uiierieaii Wliig Review, 
April, 1845; Proad'ivay Journal, .September (>, 1S45; 1845) 

(Ti:XT : 1845) 

TJic Valh'v of Unrest is one of the group of poems in which Poe 
deals with the place of departed spirits (see the general note on The 
City in the Sea). The situation here is apparently that of the temporary 
abiding-place of the wicked after death, though the poet is careful not 
to make this explicit. The nearest analogues are The City in the Sea 
and Silence. A Fable (Harrison, II, pp. 220-224). An interesting 
partial parallel is furnished by a passage in The Unparallelled Ad- 
venture of Hans Phaal (J hid., II, p. 80). 

In its earliest form (1831) and in the revised text published in the 
Southern Literary Messenger (1836), the poem is much fuller than in 
the later versions (see the footnotes, in which the text of 1831 is given 
in its entirety). There is no clue to the date of the poem other than 
that afforded by the date of first publication. 

7 (I S3 1) Nis. Perhaps suggested to Poe by the word " sin " (cf. the 
inverted spelling in " Bedlo" (that is, " Oldeb") in A Tale of the Ragged 
Mountains, and note that The City in the Sea was at one time entitled 
The City of Sin). The word nis is to be found in the Hebrew text of 
Jeremiah xlviii, 44, so I am informed by a gifted orientalist, but is 
there corrected in the margin to //as. " Nis " also occurs in Norse 
mythology. But there is scant likelihood that Poe was acquainted 
with the word in either of these uses. 

8 (1 83 1) a Syriac tale. A bit of mystification on Poe's part, I sus- 
pect. If he actually has reference to some tale, it is probably to some 
scriptural narrative, though I am unable to identify it with any scrip- 
tural story. 

9 visitor. Spelled " visiter '" in the original texts. 

18, 16 Poe declares in one of his letters (Harrison, XVII, p. 207) 
that these lines are "the two best lines" in the poem. It seems not 



21 8 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE. 

improbable that they were suggested by Wordsworth's well-known lines 
in The Solitary Reaper: 

Breaking the silence of the seas 
Among the farthest Hebrides. 

The idea of the " palpitating seas " Poe has also in his Silence. A 
Fable., in the following passage (Harrison, II, p. 220): "The waters 
of the river have a saffron and a sickly hue ; and they flow not 
onwards to the sea, but palpitate forever and forever beneath the 
red eye of the sun with a tumultuous and convulsive motion." 

18 rustle. The reading of the American Review, "rustles," is 
evidently a misprint. 

25 Eternal dews come down in drops. See The Sleeper, 11. 3 f., 
Dreain-La7id, 11. I2f., and Fairy-Land, 1. 4. 

27 The fantastic lines with which the poem concludes in the Ameri- 
can Review (1845) : 

They wave ; they weep ; and the tears, as they well 
From the depth of each pallid lily-bell, 
Give a trickle and a tinkle and a knell, 

find a parallel in Fairy-Land, 11. 24 f. (1831). 

29 (1 831) Helen. The poetic name adopted by Poe for Mrs. Jane 
Stith Stanard ; see the notes on the earlier lines To Helen. 

46 (1 831) The quotation is from Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer, 
III, scene iii. 

THE COLISEUM (75) 

{Sattirday Morning Visiter, 1833 ; Southern Litera-)y Messenger, August, 1835 > 
Saturday Evening Post, June 12, 1841 ; Griswold's Poets and Poetry of 
America, first edition, 1842 ; Philadelphia Saturday Museum, March 4, 
1843; Broadway Journal, July 12, 1845; ^^45) 

(Text: 1845) 

The Coliseufn appears to have been the first of Poe's poems to be 
published after the publication of the volume of 183 1. It was submitted 
in 1833 to the Baltimore Saturday Morning Visiter in competition for 
a prize of fifty dollars offered by that paper, and is said to have been 
published in The Visiter in the same year (Stedman and Woodberry, 
X, p. 177). Along with the poem, Poe had submitted a number of his 
tales in competition for a prize of one hundred dollars. The larger prize 



NOTES 219 

was awarded to Poe's MS. Found in a Bottle., and the other prize 
would have been awarded to TJie Coliseum except that the judges 
deemed it best not to give both prizes to the same competitor. Their 
decision was announced in the Visiter oi October 12, 1833 (see a state- 
ment reprinted in part in the Southern Literary Messenger for August, 
1 835 ) I; P- 716). A detailed account of the dehberations of the judges, 
by one of their number, General J. H. B. Latrobe, appears in the Edgar 
Allan Poe Memorial Volume., ed. Miss S. S. Rice, Baltimore, 1877, 
pp. 57-62 (reproduced in part by Harrison, I, pp. 102 f.); a briefer 
account of the matter is given by J. H. Hewitt (editor of the Visiter at 
the time the prizes were offered and winner of the prize for the best 
poem) in his Shadows on the Wall., pp. 155 f. Hewitt reprints in the 
same connection a garbled version of The Coliseum — drawn, however, 
not from the Visiter., but from some later text of the poem. All files of 
the Visiter for 1833 appear to have been lost. 

The poem at one time constituted a part of Poe's drama, Folitian, 
appearing there as a soliloquy uttered by the hero. A facsimile of a 
part of this version, comprising lines 1-9, is given by Ingram in the 
London Bibliophile., May, 1909, p. 136. 

Byron's influence is plainly discernible in Poe's lines (see the notes 
on lines 1-2, 17, 21, 30). There are reminiscences also, apparently, of 
Quevedo's sonnet, Rome i7i Ruins (see the note on lines 26-32). 

The poem furnishes the earliest known example of Poe's use of 
blank verse and at the same time his most successful use of it. Tlje 
verse of Politian is comparatively unimpressive, and that of the later 

blank verse pieces (To M. L. S , To • , and To 

Helen) is little better. Some of the lines in The Coliseufn, however — 
as the opening lines of the second section : 

Vastness ! and Age ! and Memories of Eld ! 
Silence ! and Desolation ! and dim Night ! 
I feel ye now — I feel ye in your strength — 

possess a genuine dignity and something of eloquence as well. 
1 reliquary. Receptacle. 
1, 2 Cf. Childe Harold., Canto IV, stanza cxxviii, 11. 7-8 : 

This long-explored but still exhaustless mine 
Of contemplation. 

5,6 In accordance with the custom of his day, Poe placed a comma 
at the end of the first of these lines, and also at the end of the second 
but inside the parenthesis. 



220 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

9 Cf . the note on line 46. 

13 The only reference to the Christ in Poe's poems. 

15 The star-gazing Chaldeans are also alluded to in Al Aaraaf^ 
Part II, 1. 42. 

17 Here, where a hero fell. Byron thrice introduces a line with the 
collocation " here, where," in his description of the Coliseum in Childe 
Ha?-old (Canto IV, stanza cxlii) ; and in both Childe Harold and 
Manfred he alludes to the gladiatorial combats that took place in 
the Coliseum. 

31 The two verses inserted after this line in the text of the 
Southern Literaty Messenger: 

Here where on ivory couch the Cgesar sate, 
oh bed of moss lies gloating the foul adder, 

were perhaps suggested by the following passage from Manfred (III, 

iv, 11. 22 f.) : 

Where the Caesars dwelt, 
And dwell the tuneless birds of night, amidst 
A grove which springs through levelled battlements, 
And twines its roots with the imperial hearths. 
Ivy usurps the laurel's place of growth. 

24 wan light. Spelled "wanlight" in 1845. 

26-30 These lines may have been vaguely influenced by a passage 
in Gaunt's famous speech in Shakespeare's Richard 11^ II, i, 11. 40-60. 

26-32 Possibly written by way of protest against one of Byron's lines 
in allusion to the Coliseum [Childe Harold, Canto IV, stanza cxlv, 1. 8): 
Rome and her Ruin past Redemption's skill ; 

or against the sentiment of the opening lines of Quevedo's Rome in 
Ruins : 

Pilgrim ! in vain thou seekst in Rome for Rome ! 

Alas ! the Queen of Nations is no more ! 

Dust are her towers that proudly frowned of yore, 

And her stern hills themselves have built their tomb — 

lines which Poe quoted in one of his reviews in the Southern Literacy 
Messenger in 1836 (Harrison, VIII, p. 140), copying a translation in 
the American Monthly Magazine of December, 1833 (II, p. 224). 

30 gray. Repeated, perhaps, because of its symbolical import. Byron 
had applied the same epithet to the walls of the (ZoXvs,Quxn.{Childe Harold, 
Canto IV, stanza cxliv). 



NOTES 221 

31 In the original a comma is erroneously inserted after " found." 

34-46 In the original, quotation marks appear before each of these lines. 

36 As melody from Memnon to the Sun. For the traditions associated 
with Memnon and for allusions to Memnon's statue, see Gayley's Clas- 
sic Myths, pp. ijgf., 512. To Professor Gayley's list of allusions may 
be added the following: Byron's Don Juan, Canto XIII, stanza Ixiv ; 
Tennyson's The Palace of Art, 1. 171, and The Princess, Book III, 
1. 117; Mrs. Browning's A?t Essay on Mind, 1. 84 1, and her sonnet. 
Futurity, 1. 14; Bayard Taylor's To the Nile, 1. 18; Mrs. S. H. 
Whitman's The Portrait, 1. 4 ; and Simms's Charletnont, p. 306. 

46 a robe of more than glory. Possibly an allusion to Wordsworth's 
" traiUng clouds of glory." 

TO ONE IN PARADISE (77) 

(Godey^s Lady's Book, January, 1834; Southern Litet-ary Messenger, July, 
1S35 ; Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, ]xiiy, 1839; 7^/^^,1840; Phila- 
delphia Saturday Musettm, March 4, 1843 > Broadway Journal, May 10, 
1845; Broadway Journal, June 7, 1S45; ^845) 

(Text : Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

This poem was composed not later than 1833, since it formed a part 
of Poe's story, The Visionary (later entitled The Assignation), as 
published in Godey''s Lady'^s Book in January, 1 834. It is possible that 
it refers to Miss Royster, she being conceived of symbolically as dead 
(see the general note on Bridal Ballad) — a view that is supported espe- 
cially by a rejected final stanza (given above in the textual footnotes). 
A slightly garbled text of the poem was published in the London Spec- 
tator oi January i, 1853, and there attributed to Tennyson, Poe at the 
same time being charged with theft of the lines from Tennyson. But 
Tennyson replied in a letter of January 20, 1853, to the Spectator, 
vindicating Poe. 

Title. In Burton's Magazine (1839) the title is To lanthe in 
Heaven. The name " lanthe " had previously been used in Al Aaraaf. 

1 that all. The reading also of Godey''s (1834), the Southern 
Literary Messetiger (1835), and Burto7i's, but rejected in all subsequent 
versions save the second of the texts printed in the Broadway Jour/ial 
(June 7, 1845) and the Lorimer Graham copy of 1845. 

The text of the poem printed in the Spectator of Januan,' i, 1853, 
and there attributed to Tennyson (see above), omits the word " that," 



222 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

with the result that the line is made unmetrical. There are other crudi- 
ties in that text — enough, I think, to establish it as unauthentic. It 
was probably a carelessly made copy of one of the earlier versions. 

3 A green isle in the sea. Cf . the Sonnet — To Zante^ and the 
opening lines of Shelley's Lines written atnong the Euganean Hills : 

Many a green isle needs must be 
In the deep wide sea of misery. 

16 No more. The collocation appears also in the Sonnet — To Zante 
(11. 8-1 1 ) and in the Sonnet — -Silence (1. 9). It is perhaps, as Fruit 
suggests (p. SS), "the germinal form" of the 'Nevermore' of The 
Raven. But see the note on The Raven^ 1. 48. 

21-26 One of Poe's most sonorous stanzas. The melodious effect 
is secured in part by the use of the repetend, in part by the skillful 
employment of liquids and nasals. 

23 grey. It is open to question whether Poe gained anything by his 
substitution, in the Lorimer Graham text, of this word for the epithet 
" dark " found in all other texts. 

25, 26 In what ethereal dances, By what eternal streams. Professor 
Richardson (p. xxvii) pronounces these two lines to be " perfect in every 
detail of thought and expression " and " as inherently and perennially 
lovely as Wordsworth's 

And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore, — 

because in both cases the utterly poetic conception is phrased in the 
only words that seem exquisitely fit." The last line was much improved 
by the substitution, in the later versions, of the word " eternal " for the 
" Italian " of the earlier versions. 



HYMN (78) 

[Southern Literary Messenger, April, 1835 \ Btcrton's Gentleman'' s Magazine, 
November, 1839; Tales, 1840; Broadway Journal, August 16, 1845; 

1845) 

(Text : Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

Hy77tn was written not later than 1834. Morella, of which it origi- 
nally formed a part, was evidently one of the sixteen tales sent to Carey 
and Lea in the autumn of 1834 (see Woodberry, II, p. 401), and it 
is not improbable that it was one of the six tales submitted in the 



NOTES 223 

Baltimore Saturday Visiter's contest in 1833 (see the description of 
an early manuscript of this tale in Catalogue No. 1 7 of the Rosenbach 
Company, Philadelphia, 191 3, p. 106). The poem first appeared as 
a separate item in the Broadway Journal of August 16, 1845. As 
incorporated in Morella (in 1835, 1839, and 1840), it is divided into 
stanzas of four lines each, including a stanza at the beginning, which 
was subsequently dropped (see above, p. 78), and is without title. In 
the Broadway Journal and in 1845 it is entitled Catholic Hymn. 
In the Lorimer Graham copy (which furnishes the text followed in this 
edition) the word " Catholic " is stricken out. 

In no other poem does Poe strike so distinctly the religious note. 
The Deity is not infrequently referred to in his poems, but always in 
colorless terms ; and the Christ is mentioned only once (in The Coliseum^ 
1. 13), and the Virgin Mary only twice (here and in For A/mie, 1. 83). 
In Poe's tales and in his critical writings,^ allusions to the Deity are 
more frequent, and in Eureka there are several passages in which Poe 
discusses, in set terms, the relation between God and his creatures. In 
one of these passages he declares that " The Universe is a plot of God " 
(Harrison, XVI, p. 292), a sentiment not unworthy of Emerson, Poe's 
antithesis in most regards. See for other striking passages in Eureka, 
Harrison, XVI, pp. 254' f., 311, 313 f . ; and see also in this connection 
a letter of July 2, 1844, to Lowell (Woodberry, II, pp. 92 f.). Accord- 
ing to Mrs. Weiss (p. 32) the poet, though a believer in a Supreme 
Being, "had no faith in the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ." 

As to Poe's religious practice, such evidence as we have is conflicting. 
His early Baltimore sweetheart, Miss Devereaux, asserts that " he 
scoffed at everything sacred, and never went to church " {Harper's 
Monthly, LXXVIII, p. 636). But Mrs. Shew, in her diary (see Ingram, 
PP- 333-334)7 rnentions having attended a midnight service with him in 
New York, in 1847, on which occasion, she says, he followed the ritual 
" like a churchman." Mrs. Weiss also tells of seeing him at church 
in Richmond in 1849 (the New York Independent, LVII, p. 446). 
Mrs. J. J. Moran, wife of the physician who attended him in his last 
illness, relates that she discussed with him, shortly before he died, the 
matter of divine forgiveness in the hereafter (Harrison, I, p. 337); 
and Dr. Moran himself testifies that his last words were, " Lord, help 
my poor soul." There is a tradition that he was baptized soon after 
being adopted by the Allans at the home of a neighbor of the Allans, 
a Mr. John Richard (Richmond Standard, May 7, 1881), and it is 
said that he was confirmed at some time in youth as a member of the 



224 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Episcopal Church (Mrs. Weiss, p. 31). He doubtless attended in his 
youth the church to which the Allans belonged in Richmond, the old 
Monumental Church on Broad Street. For an extended discussion of 
his religion, accurate in the main, but unsympathetic, see A. H. Strong, 
American Poets and their Theology^ pp. 159-206. 

4 Mother of God, be with us still ! The line suggests Kipling's line 
in The Recessional: 

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet. 



TO F (79) 

(Soitthem Liieraiy Messenger, July, 1835 ; Graham'' s Magazine, March, 
1842 ; Philadelphia Saiitrday Miiseiirn, March 4, 1843 > Broadzvay 
Journal, April 26, 1845; ^^45) 

(Text : 1845) 

To F is one of three poems addressed by Poe to Mrs. Frances 

Sargent Osgood, the other two being the lines To F j S. O d 

and A Valentine. A fourth poem complimentary to Mrs. Osgood, 
Iittpromptu : To Kate Carol, and apparently written by Poe, is in- 
cluded in the present volume among the Poems Attributed to Poe. 

Though addressed to Mrs. Osgood in 1S45, the poem was originally 
dedicated to another. As first published, in July, 1835, it was entided 
To Mary ; and as republished in 1 842 [Graham'' s) and again in 1 843 
{Saturday Museutn) it bore the title To 07ie Departed. 

To whom the poet refers in these earlier versions is not clear. Pro- 
fessor Kent suggests {Poe''s Poems, p. 135) that " Mary " of the text of 
1835 was possibly Eliza White, daughter of the proprietor of the 
Southern Literary Messenger; and the same view has been taken by 
others. But Poe did not reach Richmond to enter upon his editorial 
connection with the Messenger until after July 20, 1835 (see Letters, 
pp. 10 f.), and the issue of the Messenger in which the lines appeared 
must have been published before that time : in any event, it is im- 
probable that he was acquainted with Miss White at the time the lines 
were written. Professor Woodberry suggests (II, p. 414) that the lady 
referred to was Poe's " Baltimore Mary," to whom, according to her 
account, he dedicated a " poem of six or eight verses " that was 
published in a Baltimore paper early in the thirties (see Harper''s 
Motithly, LXXVIII, p. 638); though he notes in the same connection 



NOTES 225 

(II, p. 415) that the lines To (" I heed not that my earthly lot ") 

were, in the edition of 1829, entitled To M . It should also be 

noted that the lines said to have been addressed to the " Baltimore 
Mary " are described by her as " very severe " and as complaining of 
" fickleness and inconstancy " — a description which does not apply 
to the present poem. Mr. Charles Marshall Graves, in his Selected 
Poems and Tales of Poe, p. 146, expresses the belief that the reference 
is to " Miss Maiy Winfree, of Chesterfield, Virginia, who rejected [Poe's] 
proffered love" — a lady to whom no other reference is made by Poe's 
editors and biographers. 

It is even more difficult to say whom Poe refers to in the texts of 
1842 and 1843, both entitled To One Departed. Is the reference to 
Mrs. Allan ? or to Mrs. Stanard ? — or is it, perhaps, to Miss Royster 
(see the notes on Bridal Ballad)! The poet's "Baltimore Mary" lived 
until after the death of Mrs. Poe in 1847 (see Woodberry, II, p. 225). 

Mrs. Osgood, to whom Poe dedicated the poem in its final form, 
was born in Boston in 1815 (the year is sometimes given as 181 1). 
In 1835 she married S. S. Osgood, an artist of note (who was later to 
paint one of the best-known portraits of Poe), and together they spent 
the next four years in England. Returning to America, they settled, in 
1 840, in New York, where Mrs. Osgood at once became prominent in 
social and literary circles. She began to write verses at an early age, and 
some of these were published before her marriage. Her first volume 
of poems, A Wreath of Wild Flowers frout New England^ appeared 
in" London in 1838. This was followed by The Casket of Fate (1839), 
Poems (1846), A Letter about Lions (1849), and a collective edition 
of her poems in 1850. Among other works variously accredited to her 
are: The Snowdrop-^ A New Year's Gift for Children (Providence, 
1842); The Language of Gems ; Puss in Boots ; Cries of New York; 
The Rose: Sketches in Verse; and The Happy Release, or The 
Triumph of Love (a drama). She also edited The Poetry of Flowers 
and Flowers of Poetry (New York, 1841), and The Floral Offering 
(Philadelphia, 1847). She died May 12, 1850. A memorial volume — 
The Alemorial written by F'riends of the Late Mrs. Osgood — from 
which most of the information here given is taken, was edited by 
Mrs. Mary E. Hewett and published shortly after Mrs. Osgood's death 
(New York, 185 1) and again in 1854 under the title Laurel Leaves. 
The proem of this volume (a brief life-sketch) was written by R. W. 
Griswold, to whom Mrs. Osgood had dedicated the edition of her poems 
published in 1850. 



226 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Poe's first meeting with Mrs. Osgood took place in the spring of 
1845, and a warm friendship at once sprang up between them. They 
not only addressed verses to each other, but exchanged letters freely, 
and met often both at Poe's home and at social gatherings, Mrs. Poe 
approving their intimacy. But misunderstandings presently arose, and 
all intercourse between the two came abruptly to an end in the spring 
or early summer of 1846 (see the Introduction, pp. xxiii-xxiv). They 
did not meet after this, but they continued friends, Poe letting slip no 
opportunity to praise her verses, and she continuing to publish verses 
in praise of him up to the year of her death. See, for her own 
account of their friendship, the letter to Griswold printed in the 
latter's "Memoir," pp. lii f. ; and see also Woodberry, II, pp. 178! ; 
Ingram, pp. 286 f. ; Griswold's Correspondence, pp. 256-257; and for 
Mrs. Osgood's verses about Poe, her Poems (1850), pp. 451 f. and 
passim. 

1 f. The two stanzas appear in inverted order in Grahani's Maga- 
zine and the Saturday Museum. 

The mood of the opening stanza is much the same as that which 
prevails in the volumes of 1827 and 1829. 

8-14 Cf. the Sonnet — To Zante. 

9 Like some enchanted far-off isle. In one of his letters to " Outis " 
in the course of the " Longfellow War" (Harrison, XII, pp. 88, 89), 
Poe charges Longfellow with having imitated this line in his poem 
Seaweed (1. 31): 

From the far-off isles enchanted. 



TO F S S. O D (80) 

[Southern Literary Messenger, September, 1835 ; Bii7ton''s Gefttleman^s Maga- 
zine, August, 1839; Broadway Journal, September 13, 1845; 1^45) 

(Text : 1845) 

These Unes, like the preceding, though dedicated to Mrs. Osgood in 
1845, were originally addressed to another — referred to by the poet as 
"Eliza." According to Ingram (p. 105) and Woodberry (II, p. 180), 

this lady was Eliza White (see the notes on To F ); but Whitty 

(p. 222) has advanced the theory that she was none other than Virginia 
Clemm, Poe's cousin and child-wife, whose second name was Eliza. 
This theory is not unplausible, but it should also be noted that another 



NOTES 227 

cousin of Poe's to whom he had made love, Miss Herring, of Balti- 
more, bore the name Eliza, and that the lines may, accordingly, have 
been addressed to her (see, above, p. 136, for two acrostics devoted to 
Miss Herring). 

The poem, as printed in the Broadway Journal, September 13, 
1845, appears to have been published in answer to Mrs. Osgood's 
Echo-Sofig, evidently referring to Poe, which had been printed in the 
Bf-oadway Journal of the preceding week. 

Mrs. Osgood's lines begin as follows : 

I know a noble heart that beats 

For one it loves how " wildly well " ! 
/ only know for ivhoin it beats ; 
But I must never tell ! 
Never tell ! 
Hush ! hark ! how Echo soft repeats, ^- 
Ah ! never tell ! 

In 1835 the poem was printed as two quatrains. 

Title. In 1835, Lines ivriiten in ati Album \ in 1S39, To ; 

and in September, 1 845 {Broadway Journal), To F . 

3 which now thou art. Byron uses the same collocation in the dedi- 
cation of Childe Harold, 1. i o : 

Ah ! may'st thou ever be what now thou art. 

5-8 Omitted in the ^;'ffl'(i'w(5y /£'?^;7Zfl:/ text (September 13, 1845). 
8 Cf. Browning's The Guardian Afigel, 1. 34 : 

And knowing this, is love, and love is duty. 



SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" (80) 

(Southern Literary Messenger, December, 1835, and January, 1836; Broad- 
way Journal, March 29, 1S45 ('ii P^rt) ; 1845) 

(Text : Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

Date of Composition. Ingram holds (p. 90) that Politian was prob- 
ably begun as early as 1831 ; and Harrison (I, p. in) and Whitty (p. 228) 
indorse this view. Woodberry in his revised hfe of Poe is silent as to 
the date of composition, but in the earlier edition of this work (p. ^o) 
he suggests that Poe perhaps devoted the summer of 1834 to his play. 



228 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

J. P. Kennedy, in a letter to White, proprietor of the Southern Literary 
Messenger, in April, 1835, mentions the fact that Poe was then "at 
work upon a tragedy" (Woodberry, I, p. no). The Coliseum, which 
formed a part of the manuscript version of the play (it appears as a 
soliloquy uttered by Politian in Act IV) was written in 1833 or earlier, 
but it does not follow that the play was written so early as this. 

Text. The text here followed is verbally the same as that of 1845 
(Lorimer Graham copy), but tfie spelling, indentation, pointing, and 
type (especially of the stage directions) have been altered to accord 
with more modern usage. The excerpts printed in the Broadway 
Journal (March 29, 1845) are all taken from the second scene. 

An early manuscript of the play, once owned by Mrs. Lewis and 
later by Mr. J. H. Ingram, is now in the possession of Mr. J. P. Morgan, 
of New York City. This manuscript contains scenes not published by 
Poe amounting to upwards of six hundred lines, but is incomplete. The 
first " scene " of the play, as published, is the third scene of Act I in 
the manuscript version ; the second scene (as printed) is the first scene 
of Act 1 1 in the manuscript ; the third scene is scene iii of the second 
act ; the fourth and fifth scenes as published belong to the third act ; 
most of the fourth act is missing ; and the fifth act apparently was 
never written. (See for further particulars the description given by 
Ingram in The Southern Magazi7ie, November, 1875, pp. 588 f. ; also 
a brief article in the New York Nation, September 5, 1907 (LXXXV, 
pp. 205-206).) Parts of the play not published by Poe are given by 
Ingram in The Southern Magazine {I.e.) and in a note on Politian 
in his Poetical Works of Poe, New York [1888], pp. 96-99. 

Source. The plot of Politian, as Ingram has pointed out {Sotither?i 
Magasitie, XVII, pp. 588 f.), is based on a sensational tragedy enacted 
in Kentucky in 1825 and the following year, the killing of Colonel 
Solomon P. Sharp, Attorney General of Kentucky, by Jeroboam O. 
Beauchamp (whose wife had been betrayed by Sharp), and the trial 
and conviction of Beauchamp, followed by the suicide of Beauchamp's 
wife and the attempted suicide of Beauchamp himself on the day set 
for his hanging, lengthy accounts of which appeared in the newspapers 
of the day. The same incidents supplied Chivers with the plot of his 
drama, Conrad atid Eiidora (1834), furnished Charles Fenno Hoffman 
with the plot of his prose romance, Greyslaer, and gave Simms the 
materials for two of his romances, Beauchampe (1842) and Charlejnotit 
(1856). Professor W. P. Trent {Life of Simms, p. 119) also mentions a 
poem on the subject by Isaac Starr Classon, Professor H. G. Shearin has 



NOTES 229 

called attention to two folk songs growing out of the tragedy which are 
now current in the mountain regions of Kentucky (see A Syllabus of 
Kentucky Folk-Songs, Lexington, 191 1, pp. 16, 19), and Dr. E. C. Per- 
row calls attention to a ballad on the subject current in the mountains 
of North Carolina (see the Journal of American Folk-Lo7'e, XXVIII, 
pp. 166-168). The story is also related by Hoffman in his Wi?iter in 
the West (1834), and by Mary E. Macmichael, in a tale entitled The 
Kentucky Tragedy, in Bution's Magazine for April, 1838 (II, pp. 265- 
271). Poe comments on the story and the literary employments of it 
in Beauchampe and Greyslaer in a notice of Hoffman in the Literati 
(Harrison, XV, p. 1 19), but mentions in that connection neither Chivers's 
drama nor his own, though he remarks, significantly, that the incidents 
of the actual event " might be better woven into a tragedy." Poe 
probably drew upon newspaper accounts for his plot, the newspapers 
of the day having been full of the story at the time of its occurrence. 
A comparison of Poe's play with Chivers's brings out no verbal parallels 
between the two, nor any incidents common to the two that are not 
also to be found in the original story. 

Most of the names of his dramatis personce Poe found in Italian 
history. " Politian " will be recognized at once as the name of the well- 
known Florentine poet and scholar, Angelo Poliziano ; " Alessandra " was 
the given name of Politian's friend, Alessandra Scala ; and " Baldazzar " 
and " Castiglione " the given name and the surname, respectively, of the 
author of the famous Book of the Courtyer, Baldassare Castiglione. 
" Di Broglio " is apparently an Italianized form of " De Broglie,"' a 
name prominent in French politics at the time Poe was writing his 
drama. " Jacinta " was perhaps suggested by the princess Jacinto, who 
plays the part of a page to her lover in R. M. Bird's Calavar, a novel 
reviewed by Poe in the Southern Literary Messenger (I, p. 315) early 
in 1835 (though the name "Jacinta" also occurs in Shirley's play The 
Example). "Benito" figures as a servant in Dryden's TJie Assignation. 
" Lalage " was perhaps suggested by Horace. 

None of Poe's critics have claimed for Politian any extraordinary 
excellence. The play is confessedly fragmentary, and so much of it 
as is printed is merely a series of detached scenes ; it is without either 
climax or catastrophe ; it is slow of movement, and exhibits little of wit 
or of sprightly dialogue ; and in the form in which we have it, it lacks 
clearness. But it scarcely deserves all the strictures that have been 
passed on it. Nichols, for instance {A7nerican Literature, p. 217), 
pronounces it the " stupidest fragment of a play that survives " ; and 



230 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

a reviewer in the London Athenceutn of February 28, 1846 (p. 215), 
declares that "the excess of the puerile [contained in the play] amounts 
to imbecility." It is at least superior as poetry to Tamerlane\ and in 
style and finish it is superior to parts of Al Aaraaf^ though it contains 
nothing comparable to the lyrics in Al Aaraaf. 

Title. The title adopted in the Sotii/ie?'n Literary Messenger 
(December, 1835, January, 1836) is Scenes from an Unpublished 
Drama. 

Scene I. This scene, which is the third scene of the first act in the 
manuscript version of the play, was the fourth scene published in the 
Messenger — the second, third, and fourth scenes (as now printed) 
having preceded it. The present order is plainly the natural one. 

In the initial scene of the play, according to Ingram's description of 
the manuscript version, the information is brought out that Castiglione, 
who is now betrothed to Alessandra, his cousin, had at some time in the 
past betrayed Lalage, her friend. And in the following scene, Casti- 
glione is pictured in a repentant mood, but being bantered by San Ozzo. 

I, 1 Alessandra. Probably suggested by Alessandra Scala. Poe 
mentions both Pohtian and Alessandra Scala in his Pinakidia (first 
pubhshed in 1836; see Harrison, XIV, p. 65). — Castiglione. As 
pointed out above, this name was doubtless suggested to Poe by 
Baldassare Castiglione, author of the Book of the Coiirtyer (Venice, 
1528). Castiglione was a stanch admirer of Politian, whom he mentions 
several times in the Courtyer. 

I, 21 Di Broglio. The name was probably suggested by Victor de 
Broglie, who held the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs for France 
at the time Politian was published. He is mentioned by Poe in 1841 
(see Harrison, X, p. 134) as among the men "playing important parts 
in the great drama of French affairs " at that time. 

I, 31 Lalage. Chosen, perhaps, because of its etymological signifi- 
cance, dulce loqtiens; but probably suggested, as already noted, by 
Horace {Odes., I, xxii). 

Scene II. This scene is the initial scene of Act II in the manuscript 
text of the play (according to Ingram's description). It is followed in 
the manuscript by a scene not published by Poe, but given by Ingram 
in a note on Politian {Poetical Works of Poe [New York, 1888], 
pp. 96f.). In this excerpt of the play, Di Broglio is represented as 
discussing with Castiglione Politian's melancholy, when Politian apr 
pears with Baldazzar, but Politian retires abruptly after receiving 
Di Broglio's welcome. 



NOTES 231 

Excerpts from this scene, containing lines 6-28, 57-113, were re- 
printed by Poe in the Broadway J oiirnal of March 29, 1845 (Harrison, 
XII, pp. 98 f.) in a foolish attempt to show that the play had been 
imitated by Longfellow in the Spanish Sticdent, II, iv. 

II, 6, 7 Incorrectly quoted from Milton's Copuits, 11. 632-633 : 

But in another country, as he said. 

Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil. 

II, 8-10 From the Odyssey, IV, 11. 566-568. Possibly translated by 
the poet himself; possibly adapted from Cowper's translation (IV, 
11. 682-685): 

... no snow is there. 
No biting winter, and no drenching shower, 
But zephyr always gently from the sea 
Breathes on them, to refresh the happy race. 

II, 15 f. The play referred to is Webster's Duchess of Malfi. 
II, 18-20 From the Duchess of Malfi, IV, ii, 11. 261-263 : 

She died young. 
I think not so : her infelicity 
Seemed to have years too many. 

Poe erroneously inserts the word " full " before " young " in the 
first line. 

II, 23 that Egyptian queen. Cleopatra. 

II, 27 Eiros and Charmion. Attendants of Cleopatra in Shakespeare's 
Antony and Cleopatra. The same characters appear also in one of 
Poe's " dialogues of the dead," The Conversation of Eiros and 
Charmion (1839). 

II, 32 spirit. Pronounced as one syllable ; as also in IV, 11. 20 and 
62, and V, 1. 88. 

II, 31, 32 balm ... in Gilead. See Jeremiah viii, 22. The same 
allusion occurs in The Raven, 1. 89. 

II, 34, 35 "dew sweeter far . . . Hermon hill." Shghtly misquoted 
from Peele's drama, Daind and Bethsabe, 11. 46-47 : 

Or let the dew be sweeter far than that 

That hangs, like chains of pearl, on Hermon Hill, 

a passage based on Psalms cxxxiii. 3 : " As the dew of Hermon and 
as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion." The passage 

from Peele is quoted again in 7j (" Not long ago," 

etc.), 11. 9-10. 



232 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

11,46 "Is there no farther aid!" Both 1845 and the Messenger 
omit the quotation marks. 

Scene III. This (according to Ingram) is the third scene of Act II in 
the manuscript text of Politian. 

Ill, 1 Baldazzar. Accented throughout on the penult. By an inter- 
esting coincidence, both this name and " PoHtian " and " Alessandra " 
occur in George EUot's Roviola. 

Ill, 22 Fame awaits thee — Glory calls. Possibly an echo of Moore's 
well-known line : 

Go where glory waits thee. 

Ill, 23 the trumpet-tongued. Qi. Macbeth, I, vii, 1. ig. The phrase 
is without pointing in the original. 

Ill, 40 the Hours are breathing low. Cf. The City in the Sea, 1. 49 : 
The hours are breathing faint and low. 

Ill, 41 The sands of Time are changed to golden grains. Cf. A 
Dream within a D?'eam, 1. 15. 

Ill, 45-50 The passage suggests the famous moonlight scene in the 
fifth act of The Merc]iant of Ve?rice. 

Ill, 57 heart of hearts. Cf. Wordsworth's Ode oji Intimations of 
Imtnortality , 1. 190: 

Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might, 
3.nd Hamlet, III, ii, 1. 68 : 

In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart. 

Poe was fond of the phrase ; he uses it again below, in IV, 1. 5 1 ; and 
also in the sonnet To my Mother, 1. 7 — ^in each case adopting the 
Wordsworthian form. 

Ill, 70 f. The lines are from Sir Thomas Wyatt's An Earnest Suit 
to his Unkind Mistress jYot to Forsake Him, stanza ii. In the 
Aldine edition of Wyatt (pp. ioS-109), the passage runs as follows : 

And wilt thou leave me thus } 
That hath lov'd thee so long .' 
In wealth and woe among : 
And is thy heart so strong 
As for to leave me thus .' 
Say nay ! Say nay ! 

Poe, it will be observed, changes the order slightly, and garbles his 
original in still other particulars. 



NOTES 233 

III, 103, 104 The source whence these two lines are taken is 
unknown to me. 

III, 107 The word "voice" in the stage directions is erroneously 
printed outside of the parenthesis both in the Messenger text and in 
1845. The words "Say nay! say nay!" are printed in 1845 in italics 
and without quotation marks. 

Scene IV. This, the most spirited scene in the play, is the initial 
scene of Act III in the manuscript version. It is followed there by an 
unpublished scene which has to do mainly with " preparations for the 
wedding of Alessandra and Castiglione," and with " Jacinta's harsh 
treatment of Ugo " (Ingram). 

IV, 8 In the original a comma is inserted after " brightest." 

IV, 28 My seared and blighted name. Cf. the phrase, " My seared 
and blighted heart," in " The Happiest Day, the Happiest Hour,'' 1. 2. 

IV, 30-45 The passage is much in the manner of some of Poe's 
juvenilia, and one line (38) is almost identical with line i 78 of Tamerlane: 

On Earth, of all we hope in Heaven ! 

IV, 56 the grim shadow Conscience. The conflict between the evil 
self and the conscience furnishes the theme of one of the best of Poe's 
tales, William IVilson. 

IV, 62, 63 the night wind Is chilly. See Dreams, 11. 21-22: 

'twas the chilly wind 
Came o'er me in the night. 

Scene V. This is the third scene of Act III in the manuscript text 
of the play (Ingram). Following this scene there is, says Ingram, a 
lacuna in the manuscript extending through Hne 37 of the second scene 
of the fourth act. Then follows the third scene of this act, in which 
The Coliseujn appears as a soliloquy uttered by Politian ; and with this 
the manuscript breaks abruptly off. 

.V, 34 the Earl of Leicester. Ingram {Southern Magazine, XVII, 
p. 589) justly objects that the representing Politian as Earl of Leicester 
and Baldazzar as Duke of Surrey injures the vraisemblance of the play. 

V, 38 Thou reasonest well. Cf. Addison's Cato, IV, iv : 

Plato, thou reasonest.well. 

V, 44 After this line the Messe/iger text has three and a half lines 
which are omitted in 1845. In consequence of this omission the line 
has only three stresses. 



234 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



BRIDAL BALLAD (100) 

{Southern Lite7-ary ]\Iessenge7-, January, 1837 ; Saturday Evenitjg Post, 
July 31, 1841; Philadelphia Satiwday Museutn, March 4, 1843; 
BroaJzvay Journal, August 2, 1845 ; 1845) 

(Text : Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

It is possible that Bridal Ballad refers to Miss Royster's marriage 
to Mr. Shelton and the bride's distress on learning that Poe had not 
been, as she supposed, disloyal to her. The reference to the death of 
the earlier lover (11. lo-ii) would, on this supposition, have to be ex- 
plained as symbolical. Mrs. Shelton is said to have " created a scene 
in her household " on discovering that Foe's letters to her had been 
intercepted by her father, and Poe is said to have " upbraided her 
parents " for their treatment of him (see, for both traditions, Whitty, 
p. xxviii ; and see also, in this connection, the reminiscences of 
E. M. Alfriend, Literary Era, VIII, p. 490). 

The view here proposed as to the personal import of the poem is 
strengthened by a theory advanced by Professor Woodberry (II, p. 41 5) ; 
namely, that Bridal Ballad is a revised and improved version of a 
poem entitled Ballad, published in the Southern Literary Messenger 
for August, 1835. This poem as published in the Messenger is attrib- 
uted to a lady; but Poe was notoriously fond of mystification — besides, 
there were practical reasons why any allusion to Mrs. Shelton at this 
time should not have been made explicit. Ballad contains one line — 
"And tho' my poor heart be broken" — which is identical, save for 
one word, with a line (23) of Bridal Ballad, and exhibits other fairly 
obvious resemblances to that poem, so that the theory of a connection 
with Bridal Ballad is entirely plausible. It is reproduced above 
(pp. 1 40-1 41) among the Poems Attributed to Poe. 

3 This line and the line following it in the text of 1837 — "And 
many a rood of land " (omitted in all other texts) — refer perhaps to 
the wealth of Mr. Shelton, which is said to have furnished one of the 
grounds for Miss Royster's rejection of Poe. 

10, 11 The mention of the earlier lover's having died in battle — 
the one detail that is inconsistent with the supposition that the poem 
refers to Miss Royster — may not unreasonably be explained as a bit 
of symbolical mystification, the rejected poet representing himself as 
figuratively dead to Miss Royster. 



NOTES 235 

18 Thinking him dead D'Elormie. First included in the poem in 
1841. The name "D'Elormie" was perhaps suggested by G. P. R. 
James's novel De L'Orme (1836). Poe reviewed James's Meinoirs of 
Celebrated Women in Burton's Magazine for July, 1839 (V, pp. 60-61), 
and mentioned James's De L'Ornie in the heading of his review. In 
the next number of Burton''s (V, p. 69), he introduced the name 
(adopting James's spelling) into his extravaganza, The Alan that was 
Used Up. In 1845 the comma at the end of this line is inside the 
parenthesis. 

19 After this line there appeared in the Messenger two other stanzas 
(see the footnotes), which were omitted in all subsequent editions. Of 
the first of these stanzas — 

And thus they said I plighted 

An irrevocable vow — 
And my friends are all delighted 
That his love I have requited — 
And my mind is much benighted 

If I am not happy now ! — 

Professor Woodberr)' remarks (in the first edition of his life of Poe, 
pp. 94-95) that it " perhaps marks the nadir of Poe's descent into the 
prosaic, tasteless, and absurd." The second of the omitted stanzas 
repeats, with slight verbal alterations, the opening stanza of the poem. 
24 In the Lorimer Graham copy of 1845, Poe inserted a comma 
after " ring." 



SONNET — TO ZANTE (102) 

{Southern Literary Messenger, January, 1837 ; Philadelphia Saturday Mu- 
seum, March 4, 1843; Broadway Journal, July 19, 1845; ^^45) 

(Text: 1845) 

This sonnet was the last of Poe's poems to be published in the 
Southern Literary Messetiger during the period of his connection 
with it as editor. It appeared in the issue in which his resignation as 
editor was announced (January, 1837), and may possibly have been 
intended by him as a farewell to Richmond, the home of his stormy 
youth and the scene of his love romance with Miss Royster. 

The date of composition is uncertain. The repetition of a line from 
Al Aaraaf {s&e. the note on Hnes 13-14) and the recurrence of the 



236 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

notes of " entombed hope " and " departed bliss " point to some period 
in the twenties ; but the poem also resembles To One in Paradise^ 
and its manner clearly is not that of Foe's earhest volumes. 

It is noteworthy that the sonnet, though several times republished, 
underwent no verbal revision. The text adopted here follows that of 
1845, except for the omission of a comma after line i and the substitu- 
tion of a comma for an exclamation mark at the end of line 2. 

" Zante " is the modern form of the classic "Zacynthus." The 
name early caught Poe's fancy, as is evidenced by his use of it in 
A/ Aaraa/ (Part I, 1. 76). The tradition that the island of Zante took 
its name from the hyacinth, and the Itahan epithets which are applied 
to it — " I sola d'oro" and " Fior di Levante," incorporated into both 
this poem and Al Aaraaf (Part I, 1. J'])— Poe probably borrowed (as is 
suggested by Stedman and Woodberry (X, pp. 176-177)) from a passage 
in Chateaubriand's Itine7'aire de Paiis a Jerusalem (Paris, no date), 
p. 15: "Je souscris a ses noms d'Isola d'oro, de Fior di Levante. 
Ce nom de fleur me rappelle que I'hyacinthe etoit originaire de Pile de 
Zante, et que cette ile regut son nom de la plante qu'elle avoit portde." 

2 Thy gentlest of all gentle names. Among other melodious proper 
names used by the poet are " Lenore," " Ligeia," " Israfel," " lanthe," 
" Eulalie," " Ulalume," " D'Elormie," and "Annabel Lee." 

3 f. The poet's association of his early disappointments and sorrows 
with the island of Zante must be understood as a mere play of the 
fancy : he was never in Greece ; nor is there any reason to believe 
that he was ever on the European mainland. His story of having run 
away from home shortly after leaving the University of Virginia " on 
a quixotic expedition to join the Greeks," has long since been shown 
to be mythical (see Woodberry, I, pp. 37, 365). 

7,8 a maiden that is No more. See the introductory note above and 
the notes on Le7i07-e and Bridal Ballad. 

8 Wo more. Cf. To One in Paradise., 1. 16 (and the note thereon), 
and Sonnet — Silettce, 1. 9. 

13, 14 Cf. Al Aaraaf, Part I, 11. 76-77 : 

And thy most lovely purple perfume, Zante ! 
Isola d'oro ! — Fior di Levante ! 

and the passage quoted from Chateaubriand above. 



NOTES 237 



THE HAUNTED PALACE (102) 

{Baltimore Museum, April, 1S39; Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, Sep- 
tember, 1839; Tales, 1840; Griswold's Poets and Poetry of America, 
1842; Philadelphia Saturday Museum, March 4, 1843; Graham's 
Magazine, February, 1845 > Broadway Journal, May 24, 1845 (i'^ 
part); Tales, 1845; ^845 ; Griswold's Prose Writers of America, 1847) 

(Text: Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

Written, in all likelihood, during the dark days that followed Poe's 
leaving Richmond in 1837. It is noteworthy that his periods of greatest 
adversity were the periods most productive of verse. The text followed 
here, save for slight corrections, is that of the Lorimer Graham copy. 
The same text, except for one verbal substitution (see the note on line 42) 
and slight differences in punctuation, is preserved also in proof sheets 
made for the Richmond Examiner in 1849 (see Whitty, p. 225) and in 
an incomplete manuscript copy, now in the possession of Mrs. \V. M. 
Griswold (see the facsimile given by Woodberry (I, opposite page 200)). 

In Burton's Magazine (1839), in the Tales (1840 and 1845), and in 
Griswold's Prose Writers of A7nerica (1847), the poem is printed as 
a part of The Fall of the House of Usher, where it purports to be one 
of the " rhymed verbal improvisations " of the hero of that tale. It is 
there interpreted as evincing a consciousness on the part of Usher " of 
the. tottering of his lofty reason upon her throne." See also a letter to 
Griswold in 1841 (Griswold's "Memoir," p. xxi), in which Poe states: 
" By ' The Haunted Palace ' I mean to imply a mind haunted by 
phantoms — a disordered brain." 

It was in connection with the foregoing statement as to the allegoric 
significance of his poem that Poe brought a charge against Longfellow 
of having " plagiarized " The Beleaguered City from The Haunted 
Palace. Griswold declared in his " Memoir " (p. xlviii) that Longfellow 
had shown him a " series of papers which constitute a demonstration " 
that The Haimted Palace was the rather based on The Beleaguered 
City. But Longfellow, in a letter to Griswold called forth by this 
statement {^Letters, pp. 406-407), denied that he had exhibited to Gris- 
wold any papers of such import. The Haunted Palace was first pub- 
lished in April, 1839, and The Beleaguered City not until November 
of the same year ; but that there is no ground for holding Longfellow 
to be indebted to Poe is obvious enough upon comparing the two 



238 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

poems. We have Longfellow's word, indeed {Letters, p. 407), that he 
had not seen Foe's poem at the time that his was published. 

John Forster, in a review of Griswold's poetical anthology in the 
Foreign Quarterly Reviezu, January, 1844, charged Poe with having 
imitated Tennyson in T/ie Hauitted Palaee, implying, presumably, an 
indebtedness to Tennyson's The Deserted House; but one must feel 
that there is no more ground for such a charge than for Poe's charge 
against Longfellow. An anonymous contributor to the Literary World 
of September 28, 1850, calls attention to a parallel between Poe's poem 
and one of "Peter Pindar's" ballads, but admits that there is no reason 
for a charge of obliquity in this connection. 

The critics have vied with one another in their praise of Poe's lyric. 
Lowell wrote in 1845 (Graha)>:'s Maga::ine, XX\'I, p. 52): "We 
know no modern poet who might not have been justly proud " of 
Tlic Haunted- Palace. Stedman in his Poets of America (p. 247) 
pronounces it one of the "two poems which . . . represent [Poe's] 
highest range." Professor Woodberry declares (II, p. 174) that the 
poem " in intense, imaginative self-portraiture is scarcely excelled in 
literature." And Mr. Brownell, a critic not always prodigal of his 
praise of Poe, writes enthusiastically (p. 216): "The idea and inspira- 
tion of ' The Haunted Palace ' . . . amply sustain the happy technical 
art that expresses them with not only admirable musical aptness, but 
with a beautiful fusion of restraint born of taste and ease springing 
from fulness that makes it an indisputable masterpiece." 

Whether the poem is to be construed as in any sense autobio- 
graphical, we cannot be sure. Fruit holds (p. 51) that " it is designedly 
a piece of self-portraiture." Brownell, on the other hand, declares 
(p. 216) that it possesses "an objectivity that is exceptional in Poe." 
It is not probable, in our judgment, that Poe consciously depicted 
himself in the poem ; though he may have subconsciously portrayed 
himself in the description that he gives of Roderick Usher, to whom 
he credits the poem in his tale. On the subject of a possible dementia 
in Poe, see the Introduction, p. xxiii, note. 

3 Cf. Childe Harold, Canto II, stanzas v, vi : 

Remove yon skull from out the scattered heaps : 
Is that a temple where a God may dwell ? 



Look on its broken arch, its ruined wall, 
Its chambers desolate, and portals foul : 
Yes, this was once Ambition's airj' hall. 
The Dome of Thous^ht, the Palace of the Soul. 



NOTES 239 

Cf. also a passage in the final chapter of TJie Last Days of Pompeii, 
imitated, perhaps, from the foregoing : 

The skull was of so striking a conformation . . . that it has excited the 
constant speculation of every itinerant believer in the theories of Spurz- 
heim who has gazed upon the ruined palace of the mind. Still, after the 
lapse of ages, the traveler may survey that airy hall within whose cunning 
galleries and elaborate chambers once thought, reasoned, dreamed, and 
sinned the soul of Arbaces the Egyptian. 

[These two passages are placed in juxtaposition in an article in the 
Southern Literary Messenger of January, 1835, I, p. 250.] 

5 I have substituted a comma for the dash with which this line ends 
in the original. 

9-I6 Cf. Stedman {Poets of Ainerica, p. 247): "The magic muse 
of Coleridge, in ' Kubla Khan,' or elsewhere, hardly went beyond such 
lines as these. . . . The conception of a ' Lost Mind ' never has been 
so imaginatively treated, whether by poet or by painter." 

10, 12 Poe, after the custom of his time, placed a comma after 
Hne 10, and also at the end of line 12, but inside the parenthesis. 

12 Time long ago. The same words, in the order " Long time ago," 
are used by G. P. Morris as the refrain of his lyric, iVear the Lake. 

16 odor. The spelling of the Lorimer Graham copy. 

22 Porphyrogene. Born to the purple, regal. Poe also uses the 
epithet, in its Latin form, Porphyrogenitiis^ in his Marginalia 
(Harrison, XVI, p. 61). 

In all texts of the poem published during Poe's lifetime, this line 
was inclosed in parentheses; but in the Lorimer Graham copy of 1845, 
in the Griswold MS., and in the Exami?ier proof sheets (see Whitty, 
p. 38), the parentheses are stricken out. 

27 The comma with which this line closes has been inserted by the 
present editor. 

30-32 Professor Trent {The Raven, etc., p. 76, note) calls attention 
to the parallel with Lovelace's To Althea,froin P}-iso?i (11. 17-20): 

When, like committed linnets, I 

With shriller throat shall sing 
The sweetness, mercy, majesty, 

And glories of my King. 

36 The comma after " him " does not appear in the original. 

42 red-litten. A late manuscript of the poem (see Woodberry, I, 
opposite page 200) and the Examiner Y>rooi sheets (see Whitty, p. 225) 
read " encrimsoned." 



240 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN TOE 

43, 47 The present editor has omitted the comma which, in 1845, 
follows the word " forms " in line 43. and has inserted a comma at the 
end of line 4;. 

45 ghastly rapid. Originally the order of these epithets was in- 
verted ; the g-ain that is made in bringing " rapid "' into juxtaposition 
with " river " is obvious. 



SONNET — SILENCE (UU) 

(AV/;y<'//\f Cifit/t-Mi7fi\f .)/<Ji;usi//i\ April, 1840; Philadelphia S<Jturi/av Mu- 
scum, March 4, 1S43; Ji/vM-a'avyoifn/ii/. ]u\\ 20. 1S45; ^^45) 

(Text: 1845) 

An irregular sonnet, but one of the most poetic of Foe's briefer poems. 

The idea of Silence as symbolical of Death occurs frequently in Poe's 
writings. It is constant in the group of poems dealing with the world 
of shades (discussed above in the notes on 77/<- O'/v in the Sea) ; and 
it also appears in several of the prose tales — nofably, in Silence. A 
Fable and in ShaJo-c. A Parable. It is idle to inquire how tlie idea 
first came to the poet; but in the special thrust given to it in the- 
present poem he was probably influenced to some extent by Hood's 
sonnet on Silence^ which Poe had published above his own initial in 
Burton's J/ai^asine six montlis before the publication there of his own 
poem (see the article "Poe's 'Silence'" in the New York A'afion of 
January 20, 1910). Hood's sonnet runs as follows : 

There is a silence where hath been no sound. 
There is a silence where no sound may be. 
In the cold grave — under the deep, deep sea. 

Or in wide desert wUere no life is found. 

\Yhich hath been mute, and still must sleep profound ; 
No voice is hush'd — no life treads silently. 
But clouds and cloudy shadows wander free. 

That never spoke, over the idle ground : 

But in green ruins, in the desolate walls 
Of antique palaces, where Man hath been. 

Though the dun fox, or wild hyena, calls. 
And owls, that flit continually between. 

Shriek to the echo, and the low winds moan. 

There the true Silence is, self-conscious and alone. 



NOTES 241 

Poe's sonnet also bears some resemblance to a passage in Sholloy's 
rroinethcus Unbound (\, i, 11. iQSf.): 

For kin)\v there are two worlds of life and death : 
One that whieh thou beholdcst ; but the other 
Is underneath the grave, where do inhabit 
The shadows of all forms that think and live 
Till death unite them and they part no more ; 
Dreams and the light imaginings of men, 
And all that faith ereates or love desires, 
Terrible, strange, sublime, and beauteous shapes. 
There thou art, and dost hang, a writhing shade, 
'Mid whirlwind-peopled mountains; all the gods 
Are there, and all the powers of nameless worlds. 
Vast, sceptred phantoms ; heroes, men, and beasts ; 
And Demogorgon, a tremendous gloom ; 
And he, the supreme Tyrant, on his throne 
Of burning gold. 

The text here followed is identical with that of 1845 except that the 
comma in the closing line has been made to follow the parenthesis 
rather than to precede it. The poem was probably written shortly 
before publication. 

5 a two-fold Silence. Cf. the opening line of the passage quoted 
above from rromctlicus L^n bound: 

For know there are two worlds of life and death. 

9 "No More." See the note on To One in Paradise^ 1. 16. 

10 the corporate Silence. That is, 1 lake it, tiie physical death, the 
death which wc can perceive with the senses. His shadow (1. 13), 
incorporate Silence, is, then, to be construed as the tyrant that rules 
in the nether world, in which the spirits of the unrighteous remain 
till the Day of Judgment. Poe advances a similar idea in a review 
of Longfellow's Tlic Voices of ihe NigJit (Harrison, X, pp. 73-75), in 
which, in commenting on a passage in Longfellow's Hymn to tlie 
Night, he differentiates between the corporate and the incorporate 
Night, using the terms as synonymous with " the personified " and 
"the absolute" Night. 

15 For Poe's religious faith and practice see the notes on Hymn. 



242 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



THE CONQUEROR WORM (105) 

[Graham's Magazine, January, 1843; Philadelphia Saturday Museum, 
March 4, 1843; Broadway Journal, May 24, 1845; Broadway Journal, 
September 27, 1845; i845; Griswold's Poets and Poetry of America, 

1847) 

(Text: Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

There is no tangible clue to the date of this poem beyond that 
furnished by the date of first publication — January, 1843. The theme 
was an old one with Poe, but had hitherto been treated either inciden- 
tally, as in The Sleeper (11. 45-47), or in the abstract, as in the tales 
Silence. A Fable and Shadow. A Parable. The title was probably 
suggested, as Mr. Ingram has noted (London Bibliophile, May, 1909, 
p. 135), by a poem of Spencer Wallis Cone's, reviewed in Btirtoji's 
Magazine (VI, p. 294) in June, 1840, while Poe was one of its editors. 
A stanza of this poem, quoted in the review in Burton''s, runs as 

follows:' T I.- u- 

Lay him upon no bier. 

But on his knightly shield ; 
The warrior's corpse uprear. 

And bear him from the field. 
Spread o'er his rigid form 

The banner of his pride. 
And let him meet the conqueror worm, 

With his good sword by his side. 

The poem was changed but little in the course of its several re- 
printings. The text of the Lorimer Graham copy of 1845 differs in 
only half a dozen lines from the earliest text, and none of the vari- 
ations are of much moment. A text intended for publication in the 
Richmond Exajniner in the fall of 1849 (see Whitty, p. 224) agrees 
verbally with the Lorimer Graham text. A manuscript copy sent to 
Griswold (presumably for use in his poetical anthology) belongs with 
the earlier texts (Whitty, p. 224). In the second of the two texts 
printed in the Broad-way Journal (September 27, 1845), the poem 
appears as a part of the tale Ligeia. The present text follows that of 
the Lorimer Graham copy save for the insertion of a comma at the end 
of line 25 and after " hero " in line 40 and the omission of a corftma at 
the end of line 19. 

Opinion is divided as to the worth of the poem. Stedman holds 
(Stedman-Woodberry edition of Poe, X, p. xxviii) that The Conqueror 



NOTES 243 

U^o?->n "verges on the melodramatic"; and Mr. Brownell (p. 216) finds 
in it something of "staginess." Poe's contemporary and one-time friend, 
H. B. Hirst, in an article in the SaUirday Coiiiier, January 22, 1848, 
deplores the " Golgothian idiosyncracy that produced " the poem. " We 
pity," he remarks, " the man who can write such things, and ... we 
remember his story or poem precisely as we would recall a cancer 
or tumor under w'hich we had suffered, with feelings of absolute pain, 
terror and horror, if not disgust." But Professor Woodberry (II, p. 39) 
pronounces The Conqueror U^orm a "fine poem," and in the earlier 
edition of his life of Poe (p. 255) he spoke of it as possessing a 
"flawless art." Mr. Ingram (London Bibliophile, May, 1909, p. 135) 
declares it to be " Poe's most original poem." Professor Kent (Poems 
by Poe, p. 146) notes that the five stanzas of the poem "correspond 
roughly to the five acts of a play." 

T. B. Aldrich has a not unclever imitation of TJie Conqueror IVorm 
in his poem The Tragedy. La Dame aux Camelias. And Professor 
Henry A. Beers {A History of English Roma7iticism in the Nine- 
teenth Century, p. 389, note) has called attention to a partial imitation 
of the poem in O'Shaughnessy's The Fotmtain of Tears. Compare 
with the opening stanza of Poe's poem the following stanza from 
O'Shaughnessy : 

Very peaceful the place is, and solely 

For piteous lamenting and sighing, 

And those who come living or dying 
Alike from their hopes and their fears : 

Full of cypress-like shadows the place is, 

And statues that cover their faces ; 
But out of the gloom springs the holy 
And beautiful Fountain of Tears. 

Professor Alcee Fortier (The Book of the Poe Centenary, ed. Kent and 
Patton, p. 55) suggests also a connection with one of Baudelaire's lyrics, 
Le Mort foyeux. 

15 Condor wings. Cf. " Condor years," Romance, 1. 11. 

16 Invisible. Possibly to be accented on the penult; cf. Paradise 
Lost, III, 1. 586: " Shoots invisible virtue even to the Deep." It will 
be observed that the last line in each of the remaining stanzas has three 
stresses. 

39,40 Mr. Brownell remarks (p. 216) that these two lines "are 
among the classics of the ' catching;.' " 



244 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



DREAM-LAND (107) 

{^Graham's Magazine, June i, 1844; Broadway Journa;l, June 28, 1845; ^845; 
Richmond Examiner, October 29, 1849) 

(Text : Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

By reason of its abundant use of repetition, Dream-Land associates 
itself with The Raven, Eulalie, and Ulaliime, and so may have been 
written shortly before its first publication. But in theme and general 
situation it belongs rather with certain of the earlier poems — notably 
with Spirits of the Dead, The Valley of Un7-est, and Faity-Land, from 
each of which it borrows lesser details and occasional phrases, while 
from Fairy-Land it borrows (with slight modification) several entire 
lines (see the note on lines 9-12). Hence it may be that the poem 
was originally composed a number of years before it was printed. 

The main sources of Dreani-Land are to be found in the early lyrics 
just mentioned. And Poe may also have written with certain passages 
from P?'onietheits Unbound in mind (see the note on lines 21-25, 27). 
In an article published in Scribner's Monthly in October, 1875 
(X, p. 695), the charge is made by F. G. Fairfield that the poem was 
copied from Lucian (" palpably paraphrases Lucian's ' Island of Sleep' "); 
but there is clearly no basis for the charge. By the " Island of Sleep " 
is, doubtless, meant (as Robertson has noted, p. 85) the " Isle of Dreams " 
in Lucian's The Trtie History (see The Works of Lucian Samosata, 
translated by H. W. and F. G. Fowler, II, pp. 166-168). 

The text of Di-eam-Land here followed is that of the Lorimer Graham 
copy of 1845 (except that corrections have been made in the punctuation 
of lines 18, 19, and 42). A slightly revised version appeared in the 
Richmond Examiner of October 29, 1849 (see Whitty, p. 217); but 
the Examiner text is marred by a misprint (" Beyond " for " Beholds ") 
in line 50 and by an inferior reading (also traceable, perhaps, to typo- 
graphical error) in line 42. 

3 an Eidolon, named NIGHT. Apparently a personification of Night 
as symbolic of Death — as in The Raven, 1. 47, and in TJie Premature 
Burial (Harrison, V, p. 267 and passim). 

6 Thule. For the traditions that cluster about this word the student 
may consult the Century Dictionary or the New English Dictionary. 
The literary allusions to Thule are numberless. 



NOTES 245 

8 Out of Space — out of Time. The line is often cited as character- 
izing Poe's relation to his times. It is true that Poe was less influenced 
by his times than any other American writer of front rank. But it is a 
mistake to assume that he was wholly uninfluenced by his age. See the 
paper by Professor Barrett Wendell, " The Nationalism of Poe," in 
The Book of the Poe CejiU/iary, ed. Kent and Patton, pp. 11 7-1 58; 
also an article by Professor C. A. Smith, " The Americanism of Poe," 
ibid., pp. 159-179- 

9-12 Copied with slight verbal changes from Fairy-Land, 11. 1-4. 

12 tears. The Lorimer Graham correction for " dews " of all other 
versions. This change makes the verse identical with line 4 of 
Fai/y-La/id. 

13 The reading of the Broadway Journal — "Fountains" for 
"Mountains" — is doubtless traceable to a printer's error, as is also 
the reading " enclosed " for " unclosed " in line 46. 

18, 19 Poe used a dash after the word "waters" in each of these lines. 
20 lolling lily. See the note on The Sleeper, 1. 10. 
21-25, 27 Cf. the song of the Echoes in the opening scene of the 
second act of Shelley's Prometheus Uiibouiid: 

By the forests, lakes, and fountains 
Thro' the many-folded mountains ; 
To the rents, and gulphs, and chasms. 
Where the Earth reposed from spasms. 

30 the Ghouls. Cf. The Bells, 1. 88. 

33-38 The situation finds a parallel in Spirits of the Dead, 11. 7-9 : 

The spirits of the dead who stood 
In life before thee, are again 
In death around thee. 

42 'T is — oh, 't is. The Examiner substitutes " O ! it is " (see 
Whitty, p. 27). Poe omitted the comma after " oh." 

43-50 So also in The Sleeper, 11. 43-44, the lover prays that his lady 
may lie 

Forever with unopened eye. 

While the pale sheeted ghosts go by ! 

50 Beholds. The Examiner, by an obvious misprint, substitutes 
" Beyond " (Whitty, p. 21 7). 



r 



246 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



THE RAVEN (109) 

(New York Evening Mirror, January 29, 1845 '■> American Whig Review, 
February, 1845; ^^^ ^'''^k Tribti7ie, February 4, 1845; Broadway 
Journal, February 8, 1845; Southern Literaiy Messenger, March, 1845; 
London OV^zc, June 14, 1845; Liieraiy Emporium, 1845; ^845; Graham's 
Alagazine, April, 1846 (in part) ; Philadelphia Saturday Courier, July 25, 
1846; Griswold's Poets and Poetry of America (8th edition), 1847; 
Southern Literary Messenger, January, 1848 (in part) ; Richmond 
Examiner, September 25, 1849; ^^5°) 

(Text : Richmond Examitter) 

Date and Place of Composition. Numerous theories have been 
advanced as to the time and the place of composition of The Raven. 
Mrs. Weiss declares [Hoine Life of Poe, p. 185) that Poe assured her 
during his last visit to Richmond that he began the poem more than 
ten years before it was published, and that he worked on it " at long 
intervals " during the years that intervened. Dr. William Elliot Griflfis 
{LLome Journal, November 5, 1884) records an account emanating from 
a Mrs. Barhyte to the effect that Poe mentioned the poem to her while 
on a visit to Saratoga Springs in the summer of 1842 and that he 
exhibited a manuscript copy of it to her on a visit to the same place 
during the following summer. This account falls in with the statement 
made by H. P. Rosenbach {The American, February 26, 1887), that 
Poe offered a manuscript of the poem to G. R. Graham in Philadelphia 
in the winter of 1843-1844 for publication in Grahatn's Magazijie. 
There is also a well-authenticated tradition (see Harrison, I, pp. 224 f.) 
that Poe read a draft of The Raven to a Mrs. Brennan, a New York 
lady with whom the Poe family boarded, in the summer or autumn of 
1844. And there is a story, recorded by F. G. Fairfield {Scribner's 
Monthly, October, 1875 (X, pp. 694-695)), romantic in the main, but 
apparently not all fiction, that Poe submitted the poem, in the summer 
of 1844, while it was in process of composition, to certain convivial 
companions in a tavern in Ann Street, New York, and that he profited 
by their " criticism and emendation." Fairfield also records a tradition, 
palpably inaccurate in some, of its details, that Poe " dashed off " the 
poem at one sitting one night after ten o'clock. 

It is not likely that Poe began The Raven so long as ten years 
before its publication, though the poem may have been incubating 
in his mind for several years before it was reduced to writing. The 



NOTES 247 

evidence afforded by the poem itself of indebtedness to other works 
that appeared shortly before it was published — notably, to Barnaby 
Rudge, which began to appear in 1841, and to Lady Gerahiiiie's 
Courtship, which first appeared early in 1S44 (see below) — rhakes it 
all but certain that The Raven was not written before 1842; and cir- 
cumstantial evidence, together with the traditions mentioned above, 
would indicate an even later date — either 1843 or 1844. And we can 
be reasonably certain that it was not completed before the middle of 1 844. 

Text. The Raven was first published in the New York Evening 
Mirror for January 29, 1845. It had been previously sold to the 
American IVhig Review, and appeared in the February (1845) issue 
of that magazine ; but that its publication in the Mirror preceded its 
]->ublication in the Whig Review is evidenced both by the statement 
of Willis in the Mirror that it was there published " in advance of 
publication " in the Whig Review and by a similar statement — doubt- 
less authorized by Poe — made in connection with the publishing of 
the poem in the Southern Literary Messenger for March, 1845. As 
published in the American Whig Review the poem is attributed to 

" Quarles " (a nom de plujne not elsewhere adopted by the poet) ; 

but in the Mirror it is openly attributed to Poe. 

The price paid for The Raven by the America?i Whig Reviciu is 
said to have been only five dollars (see an article by David W. Holley 
in the South for November, 1875, quoted in part by Ingram in his 
commentary on The Raven, p. 24; but see also Mr. Ingram's state- 
ment, in his life of Poe, p. 221, that the price paid was ten dollars); 
and there is evidence that appears to be authentic that the poem had 
been declined by Graha?n''s Magazine before being offered to the 
American Whig Review (see H. P. Rosenbach in the American, 
February 26, 1887 (XIII, p. 296)). 

The poem is preserved, either in whole or in part, in no fewer than 
sixteen different forms, all apparendy sanctioned by Poe. Of these, 
fifteen are mentioned above in the bibliographical list prefixed to these 
notes. The one not mentioned there is the important text of the Lorimer 
Graham copy of 1845, containing revisions in Poe's handwriting. The 
texts published in Graham's Magazine and in the Southern Literary 
Messenger in 1848 are incomplete, the one being incorporated in TJie 
Philosophy of Composition, the other in P. P. Cooke's sketch of Poe. 
The authenticity of the Richmond Examiner text is established by an 
editorial notice in which it is stated that the poem is there published 
" by the courtesy of Mr. Poe himself." That the text contained in 



248 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Cooke's article was duly authorized is established by a comparison 
of the variants. The authenticity of the texts appearing in the Saturday 
Courier^ the Literary Emporium, the London Critic, and the Broad- 
way Jotirnal is established in the same way. The text of the Saturday 
CoujHer is further authenticated by a notice prefixed to the poem as 
published a second time in the Courier on November 3, 1849 (though 
this latter text is marred by printer's errors), in which the editor states : 
" The copy we give was revised and handed to us by the author himself, 
when we gave it on a previous occasion." An editorial notice also 
vouches for the authenticity of the text published in the Southern 
Literary Messenger in 1845. And a letter of Poe's to Griswold, of date 
April ig, 1845 {Letters, p. 202), authenticates the text published in the 
Poets and Poetry of America in 1847. The text of the New York 
T?'ibune is authenticated both by internal evidence and by a scrap 
of manuscript containing seven lines of the poem, sent to J. A. Shea at 
the time of its publication there (see Harrison, I, p. 218; and see, for 
the fact of Shea's connection with the Tribune at this time, the obituary 
notice of him in the Tribune of August 16, 1845). 

The text adopted in the present edition is that of the Richmond 
Examiner of September 25, 1849 (with the correction of certain 
obvious errors in punctuation). The date and the circumstances of the 
publication of this text make it virtually certain that it represents Poe's 
latest revision. The only other texts that might possibly be thought of 
as representing a later revision are those of the Lorimer Graham copy 
of 1845 and the Griswold edition (1850). But the Lorimer Graham 
version (which exhibits only one verbal variant from the Examiner 
text — "all my sad soul" for "my sad fancy," in Hne 67) probably 
belongs to the late spring or summer of 1 849 — and it is unlikely that 
Poe made revisions in it after the publication of the Examiner version, 
though the volume remained in his hands until his departure for Balti- 
more ten days before his death. The text of Griswold (1850) presents 
something of a puzzle. It is clearly a late version, differing from 
the Examiner and the Lorimer Graham versions in only four lines. 
But the variant readings for two of these lines (26 and 32) are probably 
due to typographical error, and the readings adopted in the other two 
(55) 67) are in accord with readings adopted in earlier versions. It is 
proper to add, however, that Griswold not only had in his hands at the 
time of his editing of Poe's poems the Lorimer Graham volume (see 
Woodberry, II, p. 451) but also was acquainted with the fact that The 
Raven had appeared in the Examiner shortly before the poet died 



NOTES 249 

(see Whitty, p. 199). Possibly Poe had sent Griswold a revised copy of 
the poem in the summer of 1 849. 

Of the remaining versions, the text of the lV/ii£; Review is farthest 
removed from that here adopted. The text of the Sotitherii Literary 
Messenger follows the IVJiig Review except in one line (18). The text 
of the Tribune is also based on the Whig Review, but departs from it 
in lines 60, 61, 64, and 66. The Broadway Jourjtalh3&Q.A its text on the 
Mirror version but introduced two variations (in lines 60 and 64). The 
Critic text was probably based on that of the Broadway Journal, but 
exhibits slight variations in lines 64 and 73 — both perhaps due to 
printer's errors. The text of Griswold's anthology likewise appears 
to have been based on that of the Broadway Journal. The texts of 
the Liiera7y Emporium and the Saturday Courier are both close to 
the edition of 1845. The same holds true of the fragmentary texts 
included by Poe in The Philosophy of Composition in 1846 (compris- 
ing lines 39-40, 43-54, 91-96, 1 01- 1 08), and by Cooke in his article 
in 1848 (comprising lines 1-6, 9- 18, 37-108). 

The variant readings exhibited by these several versions are compara- 
tively few — much fewer, relatively, than in the case of most of the 
earlier poems. Altogether, only twenty-one lines, or about one in five, 
show any variation. Several of the texts differ in but a single reading. 
And typographical errors or editorial carelessness are responsible for 
some of the variant readings (see the notes on lines 11, 18, 26, 32). 
In the text preserved in Griswold's anthology, the poem is printed in 
short lines (each of the first five lines of the stanza being broken in two 
at the caesura) ; and Poe also adopted this form in the excerpt of the 
poem printed in the Broadway Journal of May 24, 1845, and in brief 
passages quoted in a letter to Griswold of April 19, 1845 I^Letteis, 
p. 202), in which he gives his approval to this variation. (See also in 
this connection a letter of Griswold to the New York Times of 
November 19, 1855, in reply to a charge brought against him by 
R. S. Mackenzie in the Times of November 12, 1855, of having taken 
liberties with Poe's text in this regard.) 

Origin and Circumstances of Composition. In his Philosophy of 
Composition (reprinted in the Appendix of this volume) Poe gives what 
purports to be a veracious account of the genesis of The Raven. 
After once he had conceived the purpose of writing the poem, the work 
of composition, he avers, " proceeded, step by step, to its completion 
with the precision and rigid consequence of a mathematical problem." 
The first thing decided on, he says, was the effect to be produced : this 



250 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

must be a novel and a vivid one. Next he addressed himself to the 
matters of length and of tone or mood, and concluded that the length 
should be about a hundred lines and the mood that of sadness. He then 
set himself to contrive " some artistic piquancy which might serve . . . 
as a keynote in the construction of the poem," and finding this in a re- 
frain, he then considered what should be the nature of his refrain, and 
presently hit upon the word " nevermore " as the most effective for his 
purpose. His next concern was to find soine pretext for the repetition 
of the refrain, and this was provided by the introduction of a raven as 
one of the actors in his story. The next thing considered was the theme 
of the poem, and this, Poe determined, should be the grief of a devoted 
lover in consequence of the death of a beautiful woman, inasmuch as 
the most poetic of moods is that of sadness, and the saddest of themes 
is that of the " death of a beautiful woman." He then considered the 
matter of the climax of the poem, which he decided should come with 
the lover's final query and the bird's reply to it. With this, says the 
poet, the actual composition of the poem began. 

Opinion has differed as to how far Poe's account is to be credited. 
Some have found in it a considerable element of truth. The poet 
Stedman, for instance — and his opinion is-- obviously entitled to very 
high respect — writes in his Poets of America (p. 246): "I have 
accepted his analysis of The Raven as more than half true." Professor 
C. F. Richardson, also {A7nerican Literatm-e, H, p. 113), expresses the 
belief that " the genesis of the poem ... is in the main truly described." 
And Professor Minto declares that " there is not the least occasion to 
doubt " that " the basis of The Raven was laid after the method which 
[Poe] describes " {Fortnightly Revie-w, XXXIV, p. jj). On the other 
hand, there are some who have believed Poe's account to be a hoax (see, 
for instance. Brownell, p. 215); and Poe himself is said to have con- 
fessed this, in effect, in conversation with the Philadelphia poet, Thomas 
Buchanan Read (see Ingram, p. 223, and see also Mrs. Weiss, p. 185). 
But however much of truth or of falsity there may be in Poe's account, 
it is manifest that it does not tell the whole story. It is plain that the 
central theme of The Raven is but a variation on the old theme, dealt 
with in Lenore and The Sleeper and other early poems and in a half- 
dozen of the tales, of the grief of a lover who has been bereft of his 
mistress. It is plain, too, that Poe. utilized certain hints that came to 
him from other writers — from the two already mentioned in the dis- 
cussion of the date of the poem, Mrs. Browning and Dickens, assuredly, 
and not improbably also from others. 



NOTES 251 

To Mrs. Browning, and specifically to her Lady Geraldine's Court- 
ship, he was indebted evidently, as was pointed out not long after his 
death (see the Souther?i Litei-ary Messe?iger for November, 1857), for 
the suggestion of his phrasing in several lines (see the notes on lines 13, 
43, 79-8O1 87, 104-105); and to one of Mrs. Browning's Hues, 

With a murmurous stir uncertain, in the air the purple curtain — 

(Lady Geraldine's Courtship, 1. 381), 

he is said to have admitted on one occasion that he owed the sugges- 
tion of " the whole process of the construction of his poem " (see 
Ingram, pp. 222-223). He was probably indebted to Mrs. Browning, 
also, in some degree, for the model of his stanza (see the note' on 
lines I f.). Mrs. Browning had been praised by the poet in the columns 
of the Evening Mirror in 1 844 (October 8 and December 7) ; and in 
the Broadway Jou7'nal of January 4 and 11, 1845, he had reviewed 
the volume in which Lady Geraldine' s Courtship originally appeared, 
devoting several paragraphs to minute criticism of that poem (see 
Harrison, XH, pp. 16-20). 

To Dickens we can be reasonably certain that Poe owed the sug- 
gestion of his raven, the prototype of this bird being almost surely 
the pet raven, " Grip," in Barnaby Rudge. As in the case of 
Mrs. Browning's poem, Poe had reviewed Dickens's novel before 
the appearance of The Raven, contributing an early notice to the 
Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post of May i, 1841 (upon the pub- 
lication of the opening chapters), and a lengthier notice to G7'-aham''s 
Magazine for February, 1 842 ; and in the course of his second notice 
(Harrison, XI, p. 63) he had made the following significant observation 
as to a possible symbolic use to which the raven might have been put : 

" The raven, too, intensely amusing as it is, might have been made, more 
than we now see it, a portion of the conception of the fantastic Barnaby. 
Its croakings might have been prophetically heard in the course of the 
drama. Its character might have performed, in regard to that of the idiot, 
much the same part as does, in music, the accompaniment in respect' 
to the air." 

Poe is careful to explain in the Philosophy of Cofnposition that the 
raven is " emblematically " used in his poem. 

Whether other sources were used in the composition of The 
Raven it is impossible to say with certainty. The suggestion was 
made by " • " in the so-called " Longfellow War " (see Harrison, 

XII, pr f.) that the poem owed something, especially in its 



252 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

atmosphere and in its use of the repetend. to The Ancient Mariner \ 
and it would seem not improbable that Poe was subconsciously in- 
fluenced by that poem, though he flouted the charge when it was 
first made. It is not improbable that he was also vaguely influenced 
by some of the lyrics of Thomas Holley Chivers, though Chivers, in 
his repeated charges of plagiarism against Poe, grossly exaggerated 
such indebtedness as there may be, and further discredited his case 
by flagrantly imitating and copying Poe in his own poems. (See, for 
the Poe-Chivers controversy, a series of articles contributed by Chivers 
to the ]]'averley Magazine, beginning with its issue of July 30, 1853 ; 
the booklet of Joel Benton, /// the Poe Circle ; Harrison, VII, pp. 266 f., 
XVII, p. 40S : an article by A. G. Newcomer, "The Poe-Chivers 
Tradition Reexamined," in the Sewanec Revieu'. Januan,-, 1904 (XII, 
pp. 20 f.): and Woodberr)-, II, pp. 376 f.) 

Other suggestions that have been made as to the origin of tlie 
poem — no one of which is entirely convincing — are (i) that it owed 
something to Albert Pike's Isadore (or The Widowed Heart), which 
appeared in the A'cw Mirror for October 14, 1843 (see Ingram, 
pp. 223 f.) : (2) that it borrowed the idea of " the character and adven- 
ture of the raven " from one of the Abodes Anibrosiance, published in 
Blackwood's Magazine in 1829 (see the Southern Literary Messenger 
for November, 1857 (XXIII, pp. 331 f.)): and (3) that it echoes at 
certain points two of Tennyson's juvenilia (see the London Athenaum, 
March 20, 1S75. p. 395). 

Among apocrj^phal accounts of the origin of the poem are (i) the 
legend, given currencv bv J. A. Joyce, and attributed to L. Penzoni, 
that The Raven was translated from an Italian poem written by Pen- 
zoni's father and said to have been published in the ]\Iilan At-f Journal 
in 1809 (see Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe. pp. 207-218); (2) that it was origi- 
nally suggested by a Chinese story by one Kia Yi (see the London 
Acaden/v. June 22, 1901); (3) that it \\'as based on a Persian poem 
j^cf. Ingram's The Raven, etc., pp. 84-85); (4) that it was written in 
large part by Henry B. Hirst, with whom Poe was closely associated 
during his stay in Philadelphia (cf. Woodbern,% II. p. 419): and (5) that 
it was written in its entirety by a Samuel Fenwick (see Ingram, The 
Raven, etc.. p. 91V 

Critical Estimates. The publication of The Raven made Poe, for 
the time being, famous. The poem was copied far and wide in the 
American press, and Mrs. Browning wrote from Lor "^hat it had 
" produced a sensation " in England (Letters, p. 229). poem,"' 



NOTES 253 

says Woodberry (II, pp. iio-iii), "ever established itself so imme- 
diately, so widely, and so imperishably in men's minds." It has been 
translated repeatedly into foreign languages, especially into French, and 
its popularity is still further attested by a host of parodies and imitations. 
It may safely be said that no other short poem of its time has given 
rise to so much discussion and controversy. Two separate treatises have 
been devoted to its history and interpretation : the one by J. H. Ingram 
{The Raven: With Literary and Historical Commentary, London, 
1885); the other by Henry E. Legler [Foe^s Raven: Its Ori^^in and 
Genesis, Wausau, Wisconsin, 1907); and the list of briefer articles that 
have been written about it is well-nigh endless. 

The critics, especially the poet-critics, have been lavish in their 
praise of the poem. Willis described it, in the notice accompanying 
it when first published in the Mirror, as " the most effective single 
example of ' fugitive poetiy ' ever published in this country ; and un- 
surpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity 
of versification, and consistent sustaining of imaginative lift " {sic). 
Mrs. Browning wrote R. H. Home in May, 1845 {Letters, p. 386): 
" I am of opinion that there is an uncommon force and effect in the 
poem"; and to Poe she wrote in April, 1846, that Robert Browning 
had been " struck much by the rhythm " of The Raven {Letters, p. 229). 
D. G. Rossetti, in a memorable statement, attributed to him by Hall 
Caine, confesses that he found in The Raven the suggestion of his 
Blessed Damozel, and adds in the same connection : " I saw that Poe 
had done the utmost it was possible to do with the grief of the lover on 
earth, and I determined to reverse the condition, and give utterance 
to the yearning of the loved one in heaven " (Hall Caine's Recollec- 
tions, p. 284). Baudelaire, who made one of the earliest translations 
of TJie Raven, speaks (with apparent reference to the poem) of " cette 
extraordinaire dle'vation, cette exquise delicatesse, cet accent d'immor- 
talit^ qu' Edgar Poe exige de la Muse." Stedman, in his admirable 
essay prefixed to the poems in the Stedman-Woodberry edition of Poe 
(X, pp. xxxii-xxxiii), praises its melody and its use of " refrain and 
repetends," and observes that " even the more critical [have] yielded to 
its quaintness and fantasy, and [have] accorded it a lasting place in 
literature." Edwin Markham asserts (I, p. xxxiv) that The Raven is 
" secure in its dark immortality " and " safe among the few remarkable 
poems of the world." 

But from the beginning there have been those who recognized 
certain imperfections in the poem. Mrs. Browning complained of the 



254 THE PC EMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

" fantasticalness " displayed in several of its lines {Letters, p. 386). 
Griswold, who freely conceded to Foe the gift of genius, objected to the 
poem's mechanical nature (" Memoir," p. xlviii). Stedman, also, main- 
tains {Poets of A7nerica, p. 242) that the poem has artificial qualities, 
and declares that because of these he is unable to account The Raven 
Poe's "most poetical poem." Newcomer {Poe : Poems and Tales, 
p. 302) finds in The Raven " a shade of the melodramatic and the 
declamatory." J. M. Robertson, from among the more enthusiastic of 
Poe's admirers, admits {New Essays, p. 77) that there is a " certain 
smell of the lamp " about the poem, " an air of compilation, a suspicion 
■of the inorganic," and adds [ibid., p. 79) that " the admixture of simple 
oddity and the factitious rustling of the curtains " (in line 13) and " the 
falling of the shadow, which has no right to fall" (in line 106), are 
sufficient to take The Raven " out of the first rank of poetry." 
W. C. Brownell, among Poe's less enthusiastic critics, writes (p. 215): 
" It is not a moving poem. It has ... a certain power, but it is such 
power as may be possessed by the incurable dilettante coldly caress- 
ing a morbid mood The Raven is in conception and execution 

exceptionally cold-blooded poetry." 

Poe himself, it appears, was not blind to some of the defects in 
the poem. Mrs. Weiss avers (pp. 1 84 f.) that the poet admitted to her 
that there were a number of passages with which he was not satisfied ; 
and in a letter, apparently to Eveleth (see Ingram, p. 222), he virtually 
concedes the justice of the criticism with respect to the " tinkling foot- 
falls " of line 80 (see the note on that line). It is in the same letter 
that Poe expresses the opinion, already adverted to, that " in the higher 
qualities of poetry " The SteeJ>er is superior to The Raven. 

1 f. It is needless here to enter into an enumeration of the devices 
that Poe employs to give to The Ra7<en its extraordinary melody; it will 
be proper, however, to point out that he had already made sporadic use 
of most of these devices in one or another of his earlier poems, though 
never before on so large a scale. His occasional use of parallelism and 
the repetend dates back to his West Point period (see his Israfel, The 
Sleeper, and the earlier lyric To Helen), and is marked in the closing 
stanza of To One in Paradise (1834), in several stanzas of Bridal 
Ballad {i?>2,7), and in the 1843 version of Lenore. The 1843 version of 
Lenore also exhibits much of phonetic syzygy. Poe's free use of internal 
rhyme was probably influenced, as suggested below, by Mrs. Brown- 
ing (though the text of Lenore which Poe sent to Graham's Magazine, 



. NOTES 255 

in October, 1844 (see his letter to Lowell quoted by Woodberry, II, 
pp. 1 03 f .), makes liberal use of the same device), and he may have been 
influenced to some degree in his use of parallelism by Coleridge. Pro- 
fessor C. A. Smith, in a highly interesting chapter on Poe"s use of 
repetition in his volume Repetition and Parallelism in English P^erse, 
suggests (pp. 51 f.) the influence, also, of the English ballad. 

For " the rhythm and metre " of T/ie Raven Poe disclaims, in his 
PJiilosophy of Composition^ any originality ; the combination that he 
makes of lines into stanza, however, he holds to be entirely his own, 
declaring that " nothing even remotely approaching this combination 
[had] ever been attempted " before. It was this claim, in particular, 
that Chivers took exception to in his articles on The Raven ( Waverley 
Magazine^ July 30, 1853, etc.), in which he endeavored to show that 
Poe found in his lines To Allegra Florence in Heaven (reprinted by 
Harrison (VII, pp. 285-288)) the true and only source of the rhythm 
and the stanza that he adopts in The Raven. 

It is possible that Poe was in some degree influenced by Chivers's 
lines (though it may be noted that no proof has ever been brought 
forward, beyond Chivers's own statement, that they had been published 
before The Raven appeared). It is much more likely that Poe owed 
the suggestion of his stanza to Mrs. Browning. The stanza adopted 
in the second division of Lady Geraldine's Cou7-tship., the " Conclu- 
sion " (from which, as already shown, Poe borrowed certain of his 
phrases), has not only the trochaic movement of T]ie Raven and its 
marked feminine end-rhymes, but has also, except in one stanza, pro- 
nounced internal rhymes — some of them highly grotesque — such as 
Poe affected in The Raven. The following stanza from Mrs. Browning's 
poem (11. 377-3S0) will serve to make this clear : 

" Eyes," he said, " now throbbing through me ! are ye eyes that did undo me ? 
Shining eyes, like antique jewels set in Parian statue-stone ! 
Underneath that calm white forehead are ye ever burning torrid 
O'er the desolate sand-desert of my heart and life undone .'' " 

By the side of this may be placed one of the stanzas quoted by Chivers 
to support his contention {To Allegra Florence in Heaven., stanza vii ): 

Holy angels now are bending to receive thy soul ascending 

Up to Heaven to joys unending, and to bliss which is divine ; 

While thy pale, cold form is fading under Death's dark wings now shading 

Thee with gloom which is pervading this poor broken heart of mine ! 



256 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

That Poe was acquainted with Mrs. Browning's poem we know from 
his review in the B?vadway Joiirtial of January ii, 1845, in which the 
stanza quoted above is incorporated. 

3, 4 In a review of W. W. Lord's Poems in the Broadway Journal, 
May 24, 1845 (Harrison, XII, p. 158), Poe, in citing these lines, sub- 
stitutes "pondered" for "nodded" and "rapping" for "tapping" in 
line 3, and " tapping, tapping " for " rapping, rapping " in line 4 ; but 
these variations appear nowhere else and were, doubtless due to careless- 
ness in quoting. 

5 visitor. Spelled " visiter " in the early texts of the poem, as appears 
to have been customary in Poe's time. 

10 Lenore. The name had already been used by Poe in his poem 
Lenore, being first introduced there in 1843 in the text printed in 
Lowell's Piofieer. See the general note on that poem, where the state- 
ment of Daniel is cited that Poe assured him that Mrs. Shelton was the 
original of his Lenore. It has also been held that in the Lenore of The 
Raven Poe has reference to his wife, who had been stricken with 
consumption in 1841 or 1842, and whose recovery was despaired of for 
several years before her death in 1847. 

11 The variant "named" for "name" in the Messettger (iS^^) is 
doubtless a typographical error ; and so also with the reading " ebon " 
for " ebony " in line 43. 

13 A reminiscence, clearly, of Lady Geraldine^ s Courtship, 1. 381. 
It was to this line of Mrs. Browning's poem, indeed, that Poe is said 
to have admitted that he owed the suggestion of the mechanism of the 
poem (Ingram, pp. 222-223). 

15 In the original this line is without end-punctuation. A comma 
is similarly omitted before a quotation in lines 48, 58, 60, 84, 90, 96, 
and 102. The Examiner text also omits the comma afteir "oh" in 
line 83, and inserts a meaningless comma after " bird " in line 68. 

18 This it is. The reading of the Southern Literary Messenger 
(1848) — " Only this" — is perhaps due to inaccurate quotation on the 
part of Cooke. 

20 "Sir," said I, "or Madam. This locution was objected to by 
Mrs. Browning in a letter to R. H. Home [Letters, pp. 385-386) as 
being so " fantastical " as to be " ludicrous," unless there were " a 
specified insanity to justify the straws." Markham (I, p. xxxii) also com- 
plains of the passage and of others, — as " litde relevancy bore " (1. 50), 
and " the fact is I was napping " (1. 21), — holding that they verge on 
the grotesque, though he admits that he would not wish them away. 



NOTES 257 

Stedman, apropos of these and similar passages {Poets of America^ 
p. 242), remarks : " Only genius can deal so closely with the grotesque, 
and make it add to the solemn beauty of structure an effect like that of 
the gargoyles seen by moonlight on the fa9ade of Notre Dame." 

26 mortal. The Griswold edition of Poe (1850) — by a typographical 
error, doubtless — reads "mortals." 

32 somewhat. The reading of the Griswold edition — " something " 
— is probably an error due to haplography (cf. line 33). 

33,34 that is; lattice; thereat is. Cf. the similarly grotesque 
rhymes in Lady Geraldine' s Coui'tship : " mercies," " self-curses " 
(^- 375) ; " forehead," " torrid " (1. 379) ; " while in," " smiling " (1. 389). 

38 As already noted, the raven was probably suggested by Dickens's 
Barnaby Rud^e. Poe asserts in the Philosophy of Composition that 
the bird that he first thought of was a parrot. Mrs. Weiss declares 
(p. 1 85) that he assured her in 1849 that the bird first thought of 
was an owl. 

43 With this line and with line 67 compare Lady Geraldine' s 
Courtships 1-389 (repeated in line 397): 

Ever, evermore the while in a slow silence she kept smiling. 

48 "Nevermore." Poe declares in The Philosophy of Composition 
that the selection of this word as the key word of his refrain was arrived 
at through a process of coldly deliberate reasoning. He had, however, 
used the phrase " no more " as a refrain in 1834 in To One in Paradise 
(1. 16), and also in the Sonnet — To Zajite (1837) and in the Sonnet — 
Sile7ice (1840). It is reasonable to suppose, too, that he was acquainted 
with Shelley's use of " nevermore " in his lyric, A Lament (one stanza 
of which Chivers had quoted in a letter to Poe written conjecturally in 
1842 — see the Century Magazine^ XLIII, p. 440); and he jjiay also 
have been aware of Lowell's use of it in his Threnodia {Knickerbocker 
Magazine, May, 1839). Chivers also had used the refrain in \\\^So7met 
on the Death of my Mother {iS-i,']), and he contended vigorously in his 
article in the Waverley Magazine, July 30, 1853, that Poe had 
"stolen" the phrase from him. In a note on Chivers's poem as re- 
printed in the United States Gazette of August i , 1 839, occurs this 
comment, which may also have fallen under Poe's eye : "I think that 
Madame de Stael has said somewhere — perhaps in her Corinne — that 
the most musical words in the English language are ' no more.' " 

73 This. The reading of the London Critic, " Thus," is perhaps a 
printer's error. The reading " Thus " also occurs in a text of the poem 



258 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAX POE 

in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier of November 3, 1849. This later 
text of the Saturday Courier aiso substitutes " as " for " while " in line i 
and " name "" for " named " (as does the later Messenger text for 1848) 
in line 1 1 . 

79, 80 Mr. Ingram {The Raven, pp. 13 f.) notes the resemblance 
between these lines and Lady Geraldine's Courtship, 1. 6 : 

And she treads the crimson carpet and she breathes the perfumed air. 

80 foot-falls tinkled. The idea of the tinkling of footfalls on a tufted 
floor \yas objected to by Griswold in an ai'ticle published in a Hartford 
periodical in the fall of 1848 {Last Letters of Mrs. Jlliitmati, p. 43); 
Poe, in reply (Ingram, p. 222), admitted that he had " hesitated to use 
the term " when composing tlie poem. " I finally used it," he says, 
" because I saw that it had, in its first conception, been suggested to my 
mind by the sense of the supernatural vdxh which it was. at the moment, 
filled. No human or physical foot could tinkle on a soft carpet, there- 
fore the tinkling of feet would ^•ividly convey the supernatural impression. 
This was the idea, and it is good within itself : but if it fails (as I fear 
it does) to make itself immediately and general!}- felt, according to 
my intention, then in so much is it badly conveyed, or expressed."' 
J. M. Gambrill {Selections from Poe, p. 1 88) calls attention to the fact 
that Poe in his Ligeia speaks of "carpets of tufted gold." BrowTiell 
(p. 218) remarks: "Tinkling feet on a tufted carpet is nonsense, but it 
is not a false note in the verbal harmony of the artificial ' Raven.' " 
Whitty (p. 195) cites Thomas to the effect that Poe urged in defense 
of his figure the passage in Isaiah (iii. 1 6) in which the prophet repre- 
sents the daughters of Zion as " making a tinkling \\\xh their feet." 

85-90 According to Poe's account in the Philosophy of Cofnposition, 
this stanza — containing the climax of the poem — was the first of the 
stanzas to be \mtten. 

87 Ingram {The Raven, p. 14) notes the similarit}' of this line to 
Mrs. Browning's line {Lady Geraldine's Coutiship. 1. 380^: 

O'er the desolate sand-desert of m}" heart and life undone. 

89 Cf. Jeremiah \\\\. 22. 

93 Aidenn. Poe's spelling of the Arabic Aden (English. Eden), one 
of the names of the Mohammedan paradise (see the Koran, chap, ix, 
and Sale's " Preliminary- Discourse " on the Koran\ Poe adopts the 
same spelling in his Eiros and Charmion (Harrison. V\ . p. 2) and in his 



NOTES 259 

essay. The Power of Words {ibid., VI, p. 140). This spelling has been 
adopted also by two of Poe's admirers — John Henry Boner, in his The 
Light of Aidenn {Poems of Boner, 1903, p. loi), and Richard Hovey, 
in his lyric entitled The South {Along the T?-ail, p. 93). 

101 Take thy beak from out my heart. Cf. the concluding paragraph 
of The PhilosopJiy of Composition : 

It will be observed that the words, " from out my heart," involve the 
first metaphorical expression in the poem. The}', with the answer, " Never- 
more," dispose the mind to seek a moral in all that has been previously 
narrated. The reader begins now to regard the Raven as emblematical — 
but it is not until the very last line of the very last stanza, that the intention 
of making him emblematical of Mojimful afui A'ever-endiitg Remembrance 
is permitted distinctly to be seen. 

104, 105 Ingram {The Raven, p. 14) notes the parallel here with 
Lady'Geraldine's Courtship, 11. 377-378: 

"' Eyes," he said, " now throbbing through me ! are ye eyes that did undo me ? 
Shining eyes, like antique jewels set in Parian statue-stone! " 

106 throws his shadow on the floor. In defending himself against 
the criticism that his image here " involves something of improbabiUty," 
Poe urged in a letter quoted by Ingram (p. 222) that " For the purposes 
of poetry it is quite sufficient that a thing is possible, or at least that the 
improbability be not offensively glaring." and explains that his concep- 
tion of the lamp was " that of the bracket candelabrum affixed against 
the wall, high up above the door and bust, as is often seen in the 
English palaces, and even in some of the better houses of New York." 
The same matter was discussed with Mrs. Weiss in the summer of 
1 849 {Home Life of Poe, p. 191). 



EULALIE — A SONG (114) 

(America?i IVhig Revieu^, July, 1S45 ; Broadway Journal, August 9, 1845 ! 

1845) 

(Text: Lorimer Graham copy of 1845) 

Eulalie was probably written shortly after the publication of The 
Raven, when Poe was naturally in exceptionally high spirits. No other 
one of his poems (save, possibly, For Annie) is so lightsome and so 
joyous in mood. The name " Eulalie," too, is finely in keeping with 
the spirit and movement of the poem. 



26o THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

The revisions made by the poet are extremely few, the text of the 
Broadway Journal differing from that of the American Review merely 
in the correction of a misprint (1. ii), and 1845 makes corrections in 
only three lines, each of them slight. The Lorimer Graham corrections 
extend only to spelling and punctuation. A manuscript of the poem, 
in Poe's best calligraphy, was recently discovered in an old album in 
the possession of the New York Public Library; it differs from the 
text of 1845 only in its pointing and in the omission of the subtitle, 
" A Song." On the back of this manuscript the following lines are 
written (in pencil and apparently in Poe's autograph) : 

Deep in earth my love is lying 
And I must weep alone. 

Possibly the manuscript was copied in 1847 soon after the death of 
the poet's wife. 

Ingram (pp. 226 f.) suggests that Poe was influenced to some 
extent in the composition of Eulalie by Albert Pike's Isadore^ and 
cites in support of this suggestion certain verbal parallels between the 
two poems (see the notes on lines 8, 20). Eulalie, in turn, appears 
to have influenced A. M. Ide in a poem entitled To Isadore, pub- 
lished in the Broadway Journal of October 25, 1845 (cf. Harrison, 
VII, pp. 228 f.). The name " Eulahe " was also used by H. B. Hirst 
in the title of one of his poems, Eulalie Vei'e (published in his volume 
of poems, The Coming of the Mammoth, etc., in June, 1845), and by 
Mrs. Osgood in her poem Eulalie and as the refrain of her lines, Low, 
My Lute — Breathe Low (see her Poems, pp. 451-453, edition of 1 850), 
both of which refer to Poe. 

Title. Poe inserted a period after the word " Eulalie " in the Lorimer 
Graham copy, but this has been omitted in the present edition in the 
interest of consistency. 

6-8 For other references to the eyes — of which Poe made a good 
deal, especially in his later verses — see the note on Tamerlane, 1. iii. 

8 the eyes of the radiant girl. Ingram (p. 226) notes the parallel 
with Pike's Isadore, 1. 38 : 

Thy sv/eet eyes radiant through their tears. 

11 moon-tints. The reading "morn-tints," in the America7i Whig 
Review, is doubtless a typographical error. 

19 Astarte. Here, I take it, the planet Venus. But in Ulalume, 1. 37, 
Astarte plainly stands for the moon. 



NOTES 261 

20 Ingram (p. 226) calls attention to the parallel with Vike's Isadore, 
11.41-42: 

The moonlight struggled through the vines, and fell upon thy face, 
Which thou didst lovingly upturn with pure and trustful gaze. 

21 Cf. Ide's To Isadore (Broadii>ay Journal^ October 25, 1845 

(11. I3-I4)j: 

Thy violet eyes to me 
Upturned, did overflowing seem 
With the deep, untold delight 
Of Love's serenity. 



A VALENTINE (115) 

(New York Evening Mirror, February 21, 1846 ; Sartain's Union Magazine, 
March, 1849; Flag of Our Union, March 3, 1849; 1850) 

(Text : Flag of Our Union) 

This poem was written, in all likelihood, early in 1846. It was read 
at a valentine party at the home of Miss Anne Charlotte Lynch, in 
New York City, on the evening of February 14, 1846, and was first 
published, along with other verses read on the same occasion, in the 
E-oeiiing Miri'or of February 2r, 1S46. By combining the first let- 
ter of the first line with the second letter of the second line and so 
on, the name Frances Sargent Osgood will be read out of the poem 
(cf. A71 Enigma, which enshrines in similar fashion the name of 
Mrs. Sarah Anna Lewis). For other poems addressed by Poe to 
Mrs. Osgood and for particulars as to their friendship, see the notes 
on To F . 

The texts of the poem published in Sarfain's Union Magazine and 
the Flag of Our Union in 1 849 seem to have appeared almost simultane- 
ously. Whether Poe sold the poem to both periodicals (as is alleged by 
W^. M. Griswold, Passages from tJie Correspondence of R. W. Grisiuold, 
p. 2 1 7), it is impossible now to say. The editor of the Flag published 
the following explanation of the matter, under the title " That Valentine 
by Poe," in the issue of his paper for March i 7, 1849 : 

Having received a poem from our regular contributor, Edgar A. Poe, 
Esq., and having paid for the same as original, we were not a little sur- 
prised to see the poem appear in a Sartain's Union Magazine for March, 
uncredited, and as original, though in the table of contents on the cover 



262 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

it is omitted. We at once addressed Mr. Poe, for an explanation, lest it 
should appear that we had taken the Valentine from the Magazine without 
credit. His answer to us is full and satisfactory. The said poem was written 
and handed to Mr. De Graw, a gentleman who proposed to start a Magazine 
in New York, but who gave up the project and started himself for California. 
Mr. Poe, learning of this, thought, of course, his composition was his own 
again, and sent it to us as one of his regular contributions for the Flag ; 
and was himself as much surprised as we could be, to see it, not long 
afterwards, in the Magazine, though the publisher does not say there that 
it was written for his pages. It was doubtless handed by Mr. De Graw to 
Sartain, and published thus without any intent to wrong any one. We make 
this statement, as in duty bound to Mr. Poe, and ourselves. 

In behalf of Poe it should also be stated that similar charges of 
double-dealing by him in the case of The Bells and For Annie (see 
the notes on these poems) have been disproved. And it is due to Poe 
to state, too, that, although the poem as published in the Union 
Magazine is there dated "Valentine's Eve, 1849,". a manuscript copy 
of the poem (preserved among the Griswold Papers), which tallies 
verbally with that text except for the reading "these" for "the," in 
line 5, bears date "Valentine's Eve, 1848" (see the facsimile of this 
manuscript given by Woodberry (II, opposite page 182)). On the other 
hand, it is proper to note that the Flag t-ext is nearer in several of its 
readings to the text of 1846 than is that of the Union Magazine (see 
the footnotes for lines i, 4, 5, 8, 14, 15); and that Griswold, with both 
the Flag and the Union text before him, gave the preference to the 
latter. Possibly Poe kept no copy of the text sent to the Union 
Magazi?ie, and revised the poem anew (on the basis of the Mirror 
text) when he sent it to the Flag in 1849. 

In the Flag text, owing probably to an oversight of the printer, the 
alternate lines are not indented. 

1 luminous eyes. Cf. Ulaliune, 1. 50, the later To Helett, 11. 51 f., 
and the note on line 2 of Impr-07nptii : To Kate Carol-, and for Poe's 
frequent mention of the eyes, see the note on Tamerlane, 1. iii. 

2 twins of Lceda. Castor and Pollux ; cf. Gayley's Classic Myths, 
pp. 242-245 and passijn. Poe has the same allusion in his story Ligeia 
(Harrison, II, p. 252), where he describes his heroine's eyes as "twin 
stars of Leda." Cf. also H. B. Hirst's Astarte, 11. 10-12 : 

Thy argent eyes 
(Twin planets swimming through love's lustrous skies) 
Are mirrored in my heart's serenest streams ; 



NOTES 263 

and Chivers's Conrad and Eudora^ III, iii : 

Thine azure lamps — twin born divinities. 

8 An unusually awkward line for Poe. The reading of the Union 
Magazine is smoother, but less precise. 

9 trivialest. The Mirror has " smallest," thus opening the way to 
the misspelling of Mrs. Osgood's second name in the anagram contained 
in that version. In consequence of the substitution of " trivialest " in the 
later texts, the line becomes an Alexandrine. 

12 understand. In this reading, it will be observed, the text of the 
Flag of Our Union stands alone, though in lines 1,4, 5, 8, 14, 15, as 
already noted, it is nearer to the original version than is the text of the 
Union Magazine. 

14 eyes . . . lies. An inadvertent rhyme, which is avoided by the 
Union. Magazine and Griswold. 

lies . . . perdu. The idiom appears to have been a favorite with 
Poe ; he uses it in two notices of Mrs. Osgood published in Godey''s 
in 1846 (Harrison, XIII, p. 1 1 1 ; XV, p. 95) and also in an article 
about Mrs. Osgood in the Southern Literacy Messenger in 1849 
(Harrison, XIII, p. 176), as well as in a letter to Anthon in 1844 
{Letters., p. 176). 

17 naturally lying. See for other puns in Poe's writings, Harrison, 
XII, p. 161 ; XIV, pp. 171, 172, 178, 179; XVI, pp. 46, 167 ; and see 
also the lines Impromptu : To Kate Carol (among the Poems Attributed 
to Poe). 

18 Pinto (Mendez Ferdinando). Cf. a passage in one of Poe's re- 
views (Harrison, X, pp. 204-205) : " the Munchausens and Ferdinand 
Mendez Pintos, who, telling incredible tales of lands of the South Pole or 
mountains in the moon," etc. ; see also Congreve's Love for Love., II, i : 
" Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first 
magnitude!" Pinto, a Portuguese adventurer (i 509-1 583), traveled 
extensively in the East, and left an account of his travels in his Peri- 
grination (published in 1614). Despite the tradition to the contrary, 
his accounts are now believed to have been, for the most part, veracious 
(see the article in the Encyclopedia Britannica, iith edition). The 
name " Pinto " was adopted by C. F. Brings (an early colleague of 
Poe's in the conduct of the Broadway fournal, but in 1846 an avowed 
enemy of his) as a pen name in certain periodical publications in the 
forties ; it is possible that Poe here intends a covert dig at him (see his 



264 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

mention of him in this character in an article pubUshed by Griswold 
(III, pp. 35-37)). 

18-20 In the Jlfirtvr there appeared instead of these Unes the 
following four lines : 

Compose a sound delighting all to hear — 
Ah, this you 'd have no trouble in descrying 

Were you not something of a dunce, my dear : 
And now I leave these riddles to their seer. 

20 A line of seven stresses. 



TO M. L. S. (116) 

{Home Journal, March 13, 1847; 1850) 
(Text : Home Journal) 

A tribute to Mrs. Marie Louise Shew, to whom, also, were addressed 

the lines To (beginning : "Not long ago the writer 

of these lines") and an unpublished poem, now lost, The- Beautiful 
Physician (see the article of J. H. Ingram, " Poe's Lost Poem," in 
the New York Bookman, XXVIII, pp. 452-454). 

Mrs. Shew, a lady of New York, the daughter of a physician and 
not unskilled in medicine herself (Ingram, p. 330), had been introduced 
to the Poes in the late autumn or early winter of 1 846 by Mrs. Gove, 
and had contributed more than anyone else outside of the family to 
their comforts during the last illness of Mrs. Poe in the winter of 
1 846-1 847; and she had also nursed Poe during the serious illness 
that followed the death of his wife. The poet was deeply grateful to 
her, as sundry letters as well as the verses dedicated to her attest. 
His gratitude, it appears, soon ripened into love ; and, his devotion 
presently becoming too ardent or too demonstrative, Mrs. Shew in 
the summer of 1848 broke off all relations with him. She was sub- 
sequently married to the Reverend Roland S. Houghton, and died 
September 3, 1877. Her papers relating to Poe, including a diary 
kept during the poet's illness in 1847 and a number of letters from 
him, she placed in the hands of Mr. Ingram, who reproduces them 
in large part in his Lije oj Poe, pp. 316 f. A portrait of Mrs. Shew 
is given by Didier in The Poe Cult (opposite page 273). 

The only text of the poem published during Poe's lifetime is that 
of the Hojne Journal of March 13, 1847, which is followed here (except 



NOTES 265 

that commas have been substituted for dashes after the words " Truth"' 
and " Virtue " in line 7, and that double quotation marks have been 
used instead of single quotation marks in line 10). The text of 
Griswold (1850) differs from the present text only in the punctuation 
of line 10. 

Whitty (p. 236) cites the variants exhibited by a manuscript copy 
addressed "To Mrs. M. L. S." and dated " February 14, 1847." The 
date of this manuscript enables us to determine with unusual exactitude 
the time of composition of the poem. Mrs. Poe died on January 30, 
1S47, and it is plain that the lines were not written until after her 
death. 

As published in the Hoine Journal^ the poem is preceded by the 
following editorial notice : " The following seems said over a hand 
clasped in the speaker's two. It is by Edgar A. Poe, and is evidently 
the pouring out of a very deep feeling of gratitude." 

6, 7 In her diary (cf. Ingram, pp. 333 f.) Mrs. Shew writes of 
attending church services with Poe one evening during the year 1 847 ; 
and Poe in his last letter to Mrs. Shew (Ingram, p. 364) credits her 
with having " renewed [his] hopes and faith in God . . . and in 
humanity." 

12 For Poe's frequent mention of the eyes in his verses, see the 
note on Tamerlane, 1. 1 1 1 . 



ULALUME — A BALLAD (117) 

{American Uliig Revieio, December, 1847; Home Journal, ]zxiM'a.ry \, 1848; 
Providence _/(7?/r«^7/, November 22, 1848; Literaiy World, March 3, 
1849; Griswold's Poets and Poetry of A ?n erica, loth edition; 1850) 

(Text : Poe manuscript) 

Date of Composition. The date of composition of Ulaluine presents 
a difficult problem. Internal evidence clearly points to some period 
following the death of Mrs. Poe (January 30, 1847). Moreover, Mrs. 
Whitman, who avers that she talked with Poe about the circumstances 
under which the poem was written (see Letters, p. 426), got the im- 
pression that it was composed after Virginia's death ; and in her book, 
Edgar Poe and his Critics (pp. 282-289), she states that it was written 
towards the end of 1847. A reference to the poem in a letter of Poe's 
of January 4, 1848 {Letters, p. 288), indicates that it was first offered 



266 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

to the JVhig Re7'i£ui at some time during the year of its publication 
there : for Poe sa)-s in the same letter that the poem had been given 
to Colton, the editor of the U'/iig Review, in exchange for The Ra- 
tionale of Verse. Another letter (see Letters, p. 271) shows that T/ie 
Rationale of J 'erse had originally been sent to Colton late in 1 846, and 
that Poe expected it to appear there the follo\\"ing spring. Stoddard, 
who associates L'laJume witli the year 1S47, asserts (I, p. 150) that it 
had been rejected by the Union Magazine before being offered to the 
American Review. 

But there is also e\-idence tending to show that the poem was 
written before 1S47. Mrs. Mar)- Gove (later Mrs. Gove-Nichols) in 
some reminiscences of a \-isit at Fordham in the summer of 1S46 (see 
the Sixpenny Magazine for February, 1863, as quoted by Woodberry 
(II, p. 436)) tells of ha\-ing been requested by Mrs. Clemm on that occa- 
sion to intercede with the editor of the JVhig Rei'iew in behalf of the 
publication there of a poem recendy offered him by Poe — a poem 
which, Mrs. Gove says, she and the rest of her party read in conclave, 
and " could not make head or tail " out of. This poem, she adds, was 
published in the J f'/iig Review "soon after." Now, Ulalume, although 
it was not published in the Uliig Review till December, 1S47, is the 
only poem of Poe's that was published in that magazine during the years 
1S46-1847; besides, ^Irs. Gove's description of the poem she heard 
tallies ver}' well with the impression that Ulalunie might be supposed 
to have made upon one on first hearing it read. It is worthy of note, 
also, in this connection that Rosalie Poe. the poet's sister, declared 
to Mrs. Weiss {Home Life of Poe. p. 1 29) that she heard Poe read 
repeatedly in the summer of 1846 a poem which she identifies with 
Annabel Lee, but which it is more reasonable to believe was L laltime. 

The e\^dence in the case is thus seen to be almost hopelessly con- 
tradictor}'. It is possible that Mrs. Gove confused tv\o \-isits at the 
Poe home a year apart (it is clear that she gives some details inaccu- 
ratel)-) ; but she associates her %-isit quite definitely with a period prior 
to the death of Mrs. Poe, and she gives a highlv circumstantial accoimt. 
On the other hand, it is difficult not to believe that Ulalume echoes 
the poet's grief following the death of his \\-ife. The discrepancies in 
the e\-idence appear to be irreconcilable except on the theon,-. already 
suggested by Professor ^^*oodberry (II. p. 439). that Hal u me was 
originally begun in the summer of 1846 or earlier, and recast in the 
spring or svimmer of 1847. 



NOTES 267 

Text. The manuscript of Ulalume followed in the present edition 
(save for revisions in punctuation) was written by the poet about a 
month before his death and presented by him to iMiss Susan Ingram 
of Virginia. It is now in the possession of Mr. J. P. Morgan of New 
York City, by whose courtesy we have been permitted to use it here. 
The same text, except for variations in the pointing and for the 
substitution of "a" for the second "the"' in line 75, is preser\'ed 
in revised proof sheets intended for publication in the Richmond 
Examiner in the autumn of 1 849 (see Whitty, pp. ix, 82 f., 244). 

As printed in the Whig Review the poem bore as a part of its 

title the superscription To , the rest of the title being 

subjoined to this dedication. The Home Journal omits this dedicatory 
superscription, but except for this (and the misprint " on " for " an " 
in line 40) follows the text of the Whig Revieiv. The text of the 
Providence Journal omits the tenth stanza, introduces several verbal 
changes (in lines 28, 57, 59, 76, 90), and is marred by serious typo- 
graphical errors (in Hnes i, 31, 32, 51, 76). The Literary World 
follows the . Whig Review except for the suppression of the dedication 
and for slight changes in three lines — 1 3 (due to typographical error ?), 
76, 1 01. The text of Griswold"s anthology agrees with the Ingram 
MS. except in line 28 (where it follows the Providence Journal). 
The text of Griswold's edition (1850) reverts to the text of the Provi- 
dence Journal in omitting the tenth stanza, but it departs from that text 
in simplifying the title, in making slight changes in lines 57 and 59, 
and in correcting the typographical errors. 

What authority Griswold had for the text adopted in his edition 
(1850) is not clear. Perhaps he followed a manuscript found among 
Poe's papers, perhaps he used a revised clipping of the text published 
in the Providence Journal. It is plain, though, that the text of his 
edition does not represent Poe's latest revision. The text adopted by 
Griswold in his anthology (published in December, 1 849) was probably 
based on a manuscript sent him by Poe in the spring or summer of 

1849. The tenth stanza, omitted in the Providence Journal and in 

1850, was said by Mrs. Whitman (Stoddard, I, p. 150) to have been 
dropped at her suggestion, but by Miss Ingram to have been dropped 
because of its obscurity. Miss Ingram adds that the poet confessed 
to her that the poem "was scarcely clear to himself" (see her account 
in the New York Herald, February 19, 1905 — reproduced in part 
by Woodberry, II, pp. 329 f.). 



268 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



1 



In the Whig Review and in the Home Journal, the poem appeared 
anonymously. In the Home Journal, it is preceded by the following 
comment by Willis (under the strange caption, " Epicureanism of 
Language ") : 

We do not know how many readers we have who will enjoy as we do, 
the following exquisitely piquant and skilful exercise of rarity and nice- 
ness of language. It is a poem which we find in the American Review, 
full of beauty and oddity in sentiment and versification, but a curiosity, 
(and a delicious one, we think,) in its philologic flavor. ^Yho is the author? 

[Cf. in this connection Poe"s letter to WilHs of December 8, 1847 
(Woodberry, II, p. 233).] 

WiUis's query called forth an article — entitled " Poe's Last Poem " 
and apparently by H. B. Hirst — in the Philadelphia Salurday Courier 
of January 22, 1848, in which Ulaluine is copied from the Whig Re- 
view and is declared to be " undoubtedly " the work of Poe. " No 
other American poet," urges the writer of this article, " has the same 
command of language and power of versificatioft : it is in no one else's 
vein — it is too charnel in its nature. . . . ' Ulalume ' is a continuation 
of the same Golgothian idiosyncrasy that produced the ' Conqueror 
Worm.' " 

The Courier article called forth, in turn, the repubHcation of the 
poem in the Providence /i??//-;;^/ (November 22, 1848), together with a 
notice — evidently inspired by Poe — in which Ulalume is formally 
accredited to him. This notice begins by quoting WilHs's comment in 
the Home Journal (as above), and then proceeds as follows : 

In copying the paragraph above from Willis' " Home Journal," the 
" Saturday" Courier," of Philadelphia, gave the usual credit by appending 
the words, ^^ Home Journal, N. P. Willis.'''' A Southern paper mistook the 
words, however, as a reply to the query Just preceding — "Who is the 
author ? " and thus, in reprinting the ballad, assigned it to the pen of 
Willis: — but, by way of rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, 
we now correct the mistake — which would have been natural enough but 
for the wide difference of style between " Ulalume " and anything written 
by Willis. " Ulalume," although published anonymously in the "American 
Review," is known to be the composition of Edgar A. Poe. 

It was this notice in the Providence Jownal that Poe sent to 
Duyckinck in a letter of February 16, 1849 (Letters, p. 335), with a 
request that he copy it into the Litera7y Wo?-ld. Duyckinck reprinted 
the poem (but not according to the Providence Journal, as has already 



NOTES 269 

been noted), and prefaced it, not with the words from the Journal, but 
with the following puff of his own {^Literary World, March 3, 1849): 

The following fascinating poem, which is from the pen of Edgar A. PoE, 
has been drifting about in the Newspapers under anonymous or mistaken 
imputation of authorship. — having been attributed to N. P. Willis. We 
now restore it to its proper owner. It originally appeared without name in 
the American Review. In peculiarity of versification, and a certain cold 
moonlight witchery, it has much of the power of the author's " Raven." 

Meaning. Ulalume has proved very much of a riddle to the com- 
mentators. The interpretations that have been proposed differ widely. 
Edwin Markham holds (Poe's Works, I, p. xxxvii) that the poem 
" chronicles in symbol the collision between an ignoble passion and the 
memory of an ideal love." Professor W. P. Trent {Tlie Ravoi, etc., 
p. 14, note) advances a similar theory, suggesting that the "miraculous 
crescent '.' of line 35 " is, perhaps, symbolical of some new love influence 
dawning on the poet's life." Professor F. L. Pattee, who gives an 
extended analysis of the poem in the Chautatiquan of August, 1900 
(XXXI, pp. 182-186), finds in the poem an expression of Poe's yearning 
after sympathy, after the companionship of some friend who could 
understand him ; and suggests that it was Mrs. Shew who " gave Poe 
this vision of a new life." Professor Fruit, also (The Miftd and Art 
of Poe's Poetry, p. ']■]), sees in the poem — in the mention of " Astarte's 
bediamonded crescent" — an allusion to Mrs. Shew. 

But Mr. J. M. Robertson is unable to find in the poem any reference 
whatever to a new love. " The meaning of the poem," he declares {New 
Essays, pp. 89-90), " is this : the poet has fallen into a reverie in the 
darkness ; and his brain ... is carrying on a kind of dual consciousness, 
compounded of a perception of the blessed peace of the night and 
a vague, heavy sense of his abiding grief, which has for the moment 
drifted into the background. In this condition he does what probably 
most of us have done in connection with a minor trouble — dreamily 
asks himself, ' What was the shadow that was brooding on my mind, 
just a little while ago ? ' and then muses, ' If I have forgotten it, why 
should I wilfully revive my pain, instead of inhaling peace while I 
may ? ' . . . The Psyche is the obscure whisper of the tired heart, 
the suspended memory, that will not be wholly appeased with the beauty 
of the night and the stars ; and the poet has but cast into a mystical 
dialogue the interplay of the waking and the half-sleeping sense, which 
goes on till some cypress, some symbol of the grave, flashes its deadly 



2yO THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

message on the shrinking soul, and grief leaps into full supremacy." 
Professor E. E. Hale {Ston'cs and Poems f>Y Foe, p. xvi) also rejects the 
theor)' of an allusion to Mrs. Shew or to some other lady friend, holding 
that the " miraculous crescent "* represents the poet's dream of " rest 
and peace in a \'aguely perceived but lofty and beautiful ideal." 

Mrs. Whitman, who claimed to have discussed \\ith Foe the history 
and meaning of the poem (see Letters, pp. 426-427), held that it is " in 
its basis, although not in the precise correspondence of time, simply 
historical " i^Poe and kis Cn'tics, p. 29). " Such." she declares, " was 
the poet's lonely midnight walk — such, amid the desolate memories and 
sceneries of the hour, was the new-born hope enkindled within his heart 
at sight of the morning star {sic) — 

' Astarte's bediamonded crescent — ' 

coming up as the beautiful harbinger of love and happiness yet awaiting 
him in the untried future, and such the sudden transition of feeling, the 
boding dread, that supervened on discovering that which had at first 
been unnoted, that it shone, as if in mocker}- or in warning, directly 
over the sepulchre of the lost ' Ulalume.' " 

Mr. Ingram (pp. 33S-339) accepts ]\Irs. Whitman's interpretation ; as 
does also the French translator of Poe's poems. Mallarme {Les Poemes 
d^Edgar Poe, p. 146). And Professor Woodberrj- (II, p. 232) appears 
to indorse the same general \^ew. The poem, he says, " is autobiography 
translated into imagination, and speaking a new language " ; and he 
quotes by way of gloss a passage from the reminiscences of C. C Burr , 
{Alneteentk Ce-ntury, February, 1S52 (V, pp. 19-33)): "Many times 
after the death of his beloved wife, was he found at the dead hour 
of a winter night, sitting beside her tomb almost frozen in the snow, 
where he had wandered from his bed, weeping and wailing." " This," 
remarks Mr. Woodberry, " is the figure that goes with the poem, like 
an illustration, interpreting it to the sense." 

Obviously the interpretation that we shall make of the poem will 
depend to some extent upon the \-iew that we adopt as to its date. If 
written in the summer of 1846, Ulalume cannot have any reference to 
Mrs. Shew, for Poe did not meet her until the fall or winter of that 
j'ear ; besides, the rupture with Mrs. Shew did not come until rS48, six 
months after the poem was published; and Poe could scarcely have 
thought of her influence as malevolent (see the last stanza of the poem). 
It would be more reasonable to suppose (if we are to find in the poem 
any reference to a false or disappointed love" — which seems to us 



NOTES 271 

unnecessary) that the allusion was to Mrs. Osgood, against whom the 
poet appears to have felt resentment after her rupture with him in June, 
1846. But whatever our conclusions as to the secondary import of the 
poem, we cannot escape the conclusion that the central reference is to 
the poet's wife, and that the poem is a reflection of the grief occasioned 
either by her death or by the anticipation of her death (or by both). 

Critical Estimates. In their estimates of Ulalume the critics have 
differed more widely, if possible, than in its interpretation. The poet 
Stoddard — to quote first the least sympathetic of the critics — writes of 
the poem (in his biographical sketch of Poe (I, p. 149)) ss follows: 

The mood of mind in which it was conceived was no doubt an imaginative 
one, but it was not, I think, on the hither side of the boundary between 
sense and madness. I can perceive no touch of grief in it, no intellectual 
sincerity, but a diseased determination to create the strange, the remote, 
and the terrible, and to exhaust ingenuity in order to do so. No healthy 
mind was, ever impressed by "Ulalume," and no musical sense was ever 
gratified with its measure. 

Mr. W. C. Brownell (pp. 216-217), though he holds, at variance with 
Stoddard, that there is something of sincerity in the poem, declares that 
" the apparatus of repetend and empty assonance . . . tries the reader's 
ners^es," and that : " Even here one feels the aptness of Emerson's 
bland reference to [the poet] ... as the ' jingle man,' and notes the 
artist rather than th^ poet and the technician rather than the artist." 
Andrew Lang [Poems of Poe, p. xxiv) holds that the poem " attracts or 
repels by mere sounds as vacant as possible of meaning." And Mr. J. M. 
Robertson (p. 87;, who defends the poem against most of Stoddard's 
strictures, nevertheless concedes that it " trenches too far on pure 
mysticism for entire artistic success," and that it is " marked by an 
undue subordination of meaning to music." 

Professor Curtis Hidden Page {Chief American Poets, p. 659) states 
it as his belief that Ulahime is Poe's " greatest poem." And Professor 
Woodberry (II, pp. 234-235), after noting obvious blemishes, as the 
slowness of movement, the " jarring discords, cockney rhymes," etc., 
declares that "The criticism that finds in the ballad . . . merely a whim- 
sical experiment in words has litde to go on." " It is more hkely," he 
adds, " that ... we have, in this poem, the most spontaneous, the most 
unmistakably genuine utterance of Poe, the most clearly self-portraying 
work of his hand." Stedman (Stedman and Woodberry, X, p. xxxiii), 
declares that the poem is "by no means a caprice of grotesque sound 



272 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

and phraseology"; and elsewhere he says {Poets of America^ p. 246): 
" It is so strange, so unlike anything that preceded it, so vague and yet 
so full of meaning, that of itself it might establish a new method. To 
me it seems an improvisation, such as a violinist might play upon the 
instrument which had become his one thing of worth after the death 
of a companion had left him alone with his own soul." Mallarme 
indorses the opinion of Mrs. Whitman, that it is " perhaps the most 
original and the most strangely suggestive of all Poe's poems " {Les 
Poemes d' Edgar Poe, p. 146). 

With regard to Poe's use of the repetend in Ulaliu/ie, Theodore 
Watts-Dunton writes in the Encyclopaedia Britannica [s.v. " Poetry"): 

The poet's object in that remarkable toin- dc force was to express dull 
and hopeless gloom in the same way that the mere musician would have 
expressed it — that is to say, by monotonous reiterations, by hollow and 
dreadful reverberations of gloomy sounds — though as an artist whose 
vehicle was articulate speech he was obliged to add gloomy ideas, in order 
to give to his work the intellectual coherence necessary for its existence 
as a poem. He evidently set out to do this, and he did it, and '' Ulalume " 
properly intoned would produce something like the same effect upon a 
listener knowing no word of English that it produces upon us. 

Sources, Imitations, etc. UlaluDie is obviously one of the most 
original poems that Poe wrote. But H. B. Hirst, in his article in 
the Saturday Courier of January -22, 1848, denies to the poem any- 
thing of originality whatever. The " leading idea " of the poem, he 
declares, was taken from T. Buchanan Read's CJiristine (see the note 
on lines 56-60), while the suggestion of certain lines came from his 
own poem, Eftdymio/i (see the notes on lines 30-38). Another con- 
temporary, J. A. Tinnon, endeavored to show {GraJiani's Magazine, 
February, 1851 (XXXVIII, pp. 1 20-122)) that " the ideas clearly sugges- 
tive of every part [of the poem] may be found in Byron's ' Manfred.' " 
But the sole agreement between Poe's poem and Byron's appears to be 
in the use of the name " Astarte." Something more of plausibility 
attaches to the suggestion of Professor W. C. Bronson {History of 
Ameiican Literatti?-e, p. 169, note) that the "metrical movement" of 
Ulalume may have been influenced by one of the songs in Prometheus 
Unbound {Kzt II, end of scene iv). 

The poem belongs to the well-known and ancient narrative genre 
of the dialogue (or debate) between the body and the soul. This genre 
was extremely popular in the Middle Ages, and one example of it is 
preserved in Old English. Among other examples in American poetry 



NOTES 273 

are Whittier's My Soul ajtd /, Whitman's Barest thou now, O Soul, 
and Mr. Clinton Scollard's Soul to Body. (See for the vogue of the 
soul and body poem in the Middle Ages, G. Kleinert's Ueber den Streit 
zwischen Leib und Seele, Halle, 1880, and T. Batiouchkof, " Le Ddbat 
de I'ame et du corps," Ro/nania, 1891, pp. i f., 513 f.) 

Parodies of the poem have been written by Bret Harte in his The 
Willows, and by Thomas Hood (the younger) in some verses which 
he entitles Ravings. 

Title. The tide Ulalume was perhaps suggested to Poe by the 
Latin ululare (to wail) ; though it may also owe something to the word 
" Eulalie," — " Ulalume" connoting grief and gloom, while " Eulalie " 
suggests lightsomeness and joy. It is possible, too, that the final syllable 
was influenced by the word " gloom." 

In the Whig Review, the title includes a dedicatory ascription 

" To " ; but to whom Poe meant to refer, we can only 

conjecture : not to his wife, apparently, for although she was christened 
" Virginia Elizabeth," the second of her given names was usually 
dropped; and it could hardly have been to Mrs. Shew, and certainly 
not to her if Ulalume was written in 1846. Possibly it was meant for 
Mrs. Osgood, to whom Poe had addressed A Valentine in February, 1 846. 

1 The omission of the word " they " in the text of the Providence 
Journal is doubtless to be traced to typographical error, and so also 
with the variants of \\\& Journal text in lines 31, 32, 51, 76. 

2, 3 sere, sere. Professor C. A. Smith {Repetitio7i and Pa7'allelis7?t 
in English Verse, p. 49) notes that the perfect rhyme here " is not felt 
to be a blemish, because the second ' sere ' receives much less emphasis 
than the first." 

4 October. As is pointed out above, Ulalume was written, not in 
the autumn, but in the spring or summer (either of 1846 or of 1847). 
The word " October " is used, in all likelihood, because of its connotation 
of sadness and of its sonorousness (see in this connection Lettei's, p. 427). 

5 my most immemorial year. The epithet " immemorial " refers with 
equal aptness to 1846 and to 1847. On January 30, 1847, Mrs. Poe 
died, and following her death Poe was extremely ill for several months; 
though by the summer he had recovered both health and spirits, and 
by the autumn he had come to resume very much the manner of life 
that had characterized the period preceding his wife's death. The year 
1846 was made memorable by a serious and prolonged illness during 
the first half of the year, which incapacitated the poet for all work of 
any moment; by his rupture with Mrs. Osgood; by the publication 



2/4 THE rOEMS OF F.nGAR ALLAN FOE 

of the Literati and the loss, in consequence, of many of his friends; 
and by the public revelation toward the end of the year of his poverty. 
Throughout the year 1S46. moreover, the poet was oppressed bv the 
inevitable approach of his wife's death. 

6 Auber. Perhaps wined by Foe. There is a district in France 
called "Aube." And there \\-as a French aimposer of operas, Daniel 
Francois Auber (i 782-1 S-iX whose name was probably known to Poe, 
It will be observed that " Auber " is made to rhyme ^ith " October.'' 

7 Weir. Like " Auber," a " myth-name." It may have been sug- 
gested cither by the common noun or by the well-known family name. 

In the original this line ends with a colon. The punctuation of the 
original has been departed from in about a dozen other lines, the most 
noteworthy changes being the substitution of colons for dashes before 
the quorations in lines 30, 52. 61, 78. 80. 85, 95. 

15 The insertion of " the " before " da\-s " in the text printed in the 
Literaty World was in all probability trace.able to typographical error. 

14 scoriae. Neither the Century' Dictionan* nor the New English 
Dictionary cites an earlier use of this word. Poe uses the word "scoria" 
in his Xarrath'e of Arthur Gonion Pym (Harrison. Ill, p. 231). 

16 Yaanek. Another myth-name. The word was suggested to Poe, 
I suspect, by the Asiatic " Janik " or " Yanik." a district in Trebizond. 

SO-38 It \\-as this stanza th.at H. B. Hir^t, Poe's Philadelphia satellite, 
aa-used the poet of having plagiarized from one of the stanzas of his 
Endymion (see the Saturday Courser, January 22, 18481 The absurdity 
of the accusation is demonstrated by Poe in his reply to Hirst (^Harrison, 
XIII. p. 211). The nineteenth stanza of Hirst's poem runs thus : 
Slowly Endymion bent, the light Elysian 
Flooding his trgure. Kneeling on one knee 
He loosed his sand.ils. lea 
And lake and woodland glittering on his vision, 
A fair\- land, all bright and beautiful. 
"With Venus at her full. 

33 our. Poe, by a slip of the memor\-, doubtlesis. substitutes "my" 
for " our " in his citation of this stanza in his reply to Hirst, mentioned 
above (^Harrison, XIll. p. 21 2\ 

84 nebulous lustre. See the introductor)- note. alx>ve. for the N-arious 
interpretations that have been proposed. 

37 Astarte's. Ast;irte, identified in Eulalu (1. 19) with the ptlanet 
^■ enus, is hero identified with the moon. Cf. Paradise Lost^ I, 1. 439 ; 
Asrane, queen of heaven, with crescent horns. 



NOTES 27 s 

39 She is warmer than Dian. With the Phoenicians, Astarte was 
the goddess of love and the counterpart of Baal. Diana, among the 
Romans, was the chaste goddess of the moon. 

41 She revels in a region of sighs. An exceptionally lame line 
for Foe's later years. Ransome {Et/gar Allan Poc, A Cnlhal Sluilv, 
p. 139) cites the line as an example of "an apparent deafness or blunt- 
ness " exhibited occasionally by the poet. 

42 diy on. Robertson (p. 88) finds in this a flaw, and remarks that, 
as a rhyme-word for " Dian " and " Lion," it " is truly an exhaustion of 
ingenuity.'' But Bishop Newton has the rhyme " rely on," " Sion " 
in his hymn, Glorious T/il/ti^s of Thcc arc Spoken, 11. 24, 26. 

43 where the worm never dies. Cf. Isaiah Ixvi, 24, and the echoes 
of this passage in Mark ix, 44, 46, 48. 

50 luminous eyes. A favorite collocation with Poe : cf. A Valen- 
tine, 1. I, and the poet's pen-picture of Mrs. Osgood in the Literati 
(Harrison, XV, p. 104). For other references to the eyes, see the note 
On Ta/nerlane, 1. 1 1 1 . 

56-60 With these lines are to be compared the following stanzas 
of T. B. Read's Christine (11. 21-24), itself a palpable imitation of 
Locksley Hall: 

Then my weary soul went from me, and it walked the world alone, 
O'er a wide and brazen desert, in a hot and brazen zone ! 

There it walked and trailed its pinions, slowly trailed them in the sands, 
With its hopeless eyes fixed blindly, with its hopeless folded hands. 

These stanzas, says H. B. Hirst in his article in the Saturday Courier 
(January 22, 1848), gave to Poe the "leading idea" of his poem. The 
parallel with Read's lines is evident; but Hirst plainly exaggerates its 
importance. 

57 till. Chiswold's reading — "until" — is probably a typographical 
error. 

75 the. The Examiner proof sheets, according to Whitty's text, 
substitute "a" for the second "the"; this obviously gives an inferior 
reading, and may well be attributable to a printer's error. 

95-104 Omitted by (kiswold (1850) and the Providence Journal. 
See, for the suggested explanations of this, the prefatory note above. 

103 sinfully scintillant. Cf. the note on line 39. 



2/6 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

AX ENIGMA (121) 

(Si7rtMti's rpn'ofi Mij;gasin<\ March. 1S4S: 1S50) 

(^Text: 1850^ 

Written in the autumn of 1S4; ^^see Foe's letter of November 27, 
1S47. to Mrs. Lewis {^I^-fUrs, p. 2S6>\ The text here adopted — that 
of Griswold (^iSso') — differs from the text of ihe C/ito/i J/./i.'i/^///*' only 
in the title and in the reading " tuckennaniiies " for " Petrarthanities " in 
line 10. What authority Griswold had for his text is not clear; perhaps 
he followed a manuscript sent to Mrs. Lewis in 1S47, perhaps he used 
a revised dipping or some other manuscript found among Poe's papers 
or in the possession of Mrs. Lewis. 

The poem — one of Poe's least creditable performances — was in- 
spired by his friendship for Mrs, Estelle Anna Lewis, a poetess, first 
of Baltimore, and later of Bnx)klyn, whose name ^or, rather, the name, 
Sarah Anna Lewis, adopted in her volume, jRfionis of ffu Ht\jri) is to 
be read out of the poem by juxtaposing the first letter of the first line, 
with the second letter of the serond line, and so on. At what time Poe 
and Mrs. Lewis became acquainted is uncertain, but the two families 
were closelv associated during the last year of the poet's life, and it 
w-as perhaps through Mrs. Lewis that Poe's wish was conveyed to 
Griswold that he sliould serve as his literar}- executor (Woodberr\\ H, 
p. 45o\ When Griswold's " Memoir " appeared, Mrs. Lewis sided with 
Griswold (see her letter of September 20, 1850 \jUtfcrs. pp. 415-416)); 
but she subsequentlv took Mrs. Qcnim to live with her. and demonstrated 
in other ways her lo>-alty to the poet. Poe published an extra\-ag:mt 
encomium of her writings in the Democnitic Ri^-iY^c of August i S4S, 
and followed this up by a longer notice in the Soutfuni LiUniry 
Messati^tr for the following month; and he also WTOte still other 
notices in praise of her. See, for further details, Woodbeny, H, pp. 30S f. 
tiXiA f><7ssim \ Ingram, pp. 413^, 447 f.; H.arrison, L pp. 300 f., XIIL 
pp. 15s f.. 215 f., XVII. pp. 286. 359 f., 415 L; Gfis^riv/Ws Cof7rjr/>omf- 
f»cf, p. 252; Miss Ticknor's JWs /fs/rn: and an interesting article 
by Ingram, " Edgar Allan Poe .and ' Stella.' " in the A/dafsv /Ht-r-r^Ti; 
I. pp. 41 7-423. The bibliogxaphers mention the following works by 
Mrs. Lewis: SiJ/>f^o of I^sfuvfi /^roonis of tkf Heart x CkiM of 
th( Sta\ Myths of tht Minstrel., HelhneM^ or the Fall of ihe 
Montesuma. 



NOTES 277 

4, 8 bonnet, con it. Lowell adopts the same rhyme in a sonnet, 
To Miss Aorton (1869), z. jcu (f esprit, the suggestion of which he 
credits to Lope de Vega's sonnet beginning, " Un soneto me manda 
hacer Violante." Poe perhaps wrote with Lope de Vega's sonnet in 
mind ; and Lowell doubtless knew Foe's sonnet. 

10 tuckermanities. The reference is to Henry T. Tuckerman, poet, 
critic, and biographer of Poe's friend, John Pendleton Kennedy. Poe 
had publicly expressed his disapproval of Tuckerman as early as 1841, 
in the following passage in his Autograplty (Harrison, XV, p. 217): 
" He is a correct writer so far as rnere English is concerned, but an 
insufferably tedious and dull one." See also some uncomplimentary 
remarks in a letter of December 25, 1842 (Woodberry, I, pp. 347 f.), 
from which it appears that Tuckerman, like Kennedy, had at some time 
objected to the extravagant in Poe's writings. There is also a slight- 
ing reference to Tuckerman in a letter quoted by Griswold (I, p. xlv): 
" I cannot write any more for the Milliner's Book {i.e., Godey''s\ where 

T n prints his feeble and I'ery quiedy made diludons of other 

pc^jple's reviews " ; and Poe also takes a fling at him in the opening 
paragraph of his tale, TJie Angel of the Odd. Tuckerman had declined 
Poe's tale. The Tell-Tale Heart, when offered to him for the Boston 
Miscellany in 1842 {Letters, p. 125). 

Instead of " tuckermanities," the Union Magazine has " Petrarch- 
anities." Tuckerman published an article on Petrarch in the American 
Whig Rei>iew for May, 1845 (pp. 468 f.), and he also contributed 
sonnets about the same time to the Democratic Review. 



TO (121) 

{Columbian Maf;aziiic, March, 1848; 1850) 
(Text : Columbian Magazine) 

Inspired, like the lines To M. L. S , by Mrs. Marie Louise Shew. 

See for the friendship of Poe with Mrs. Shew the general note on 

To M. L. S . The poem was probably written not long before 

publication. 

The text of Griswold agrees with that of the Columbian Magazine 
(adopted here) save for slight differences in punctuation, the omission 
of the third dash in the tide, and the misprint " unpurpled " for " em- 
purpled " in line 26; but Poe sent Mrs. Shew a manuscript copy of 



2/8 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

the poem which differs in several interesting particulars from the 
published text. This text, which bears the title To Marie Louise, 
introduces several lines after the first half of line i6 (see Stedman 
and Woodberry, X, pp. 194-195). 

1-3 Not long ago . . . Maintained "the power of words." The 
reference is to Poe's article The Power of WoT-ds^ first published in 
the Democratic Review for June, 1845, and later in the Broadway 
Journal of October 25, 1S45 (see Harrison, VI, pp. 139!). 

7 two foreign soft dissyllables. The given names of Mrs. Shew, 
" Marie Louise." 

9, 10 '" dew That hangs ... on Hermon hill." Misquoted from a 
passage in Peek's David and Bethsabe (based on Psalms cxxxiii, 3). 
The same quotation occurs in Politian, II, 11. 34-35. 

15 "the sweetest voice of all God's creatures." A part of the 
quotation from Sale's " Preliminary Discourse " on the Koran, used 
as the motto of Israfel (see the notes on Israfel). 

20-27 Professor F. L. Pattee {Chautaiiquan, XXXI, p. 186) cites 
this passage in support of his theory that the fourth stanza of Ulalume 
has reference to Mrs. Shew. 

26 empurpled vapors. The reading of the manuscript version de- 
scribed above, " the clouds of glory," is possibly a reminiscence of 
Wordsworth's Intimations of Immortality. 



THE BELLS (122) 

{Union Magazine, November, 1849; Union Magaziiie, December, 1849) 

(Text: Union Magazitie, November, 1849) 

Text and Circumstances of Composition. The evolution of The Bells 
has a highly interesting history. The poem had perhaps been vaguely 
germinating in Poe's mind for a number of years before it was reduced 
to writing (see the suggestion of Woodberry (II, p. 259) and a statement 
made by Poe's friend Thomas and repeated by Whitty, p. 233) ; but the 
earUest written draft of it was made during the summer of 1 848, when 
the poet was on a visit at the home of Mrs. M. L. Shew, in New York 
City. Mrs. Shew declares that she herself suggested the subject and 
was responsible for two Unes of this draft (see her account as given 
by Ingram, pp. 361 f.). A second draft — perhaps that published in 
the Union Magazine in December, 1 849 — was written on February 6, 



NOTES 279 

1849 {Letters^ P- 33i)- ^ third draft — probably that of the Morgan 
MS. described below — was written, it appears (see Woodberry, II, 
p. 308), at Lowell, Massachusetts, late in May, 1849. And a fourth 
draft (or, more precisely, revision) was made shortly after this and 
sent to the Union Magazine. And it was in this form, evidently, that 
the poem was published in the Unio7t Magazine in November, 1849. 

In a note accompanying the second draft of the poem as published 
in the Union Magazine in December, 1849, John Sartain, the proprietor 
of that magazine, gives the following particulars concerning the sub- 
mission of the poem to him : 

Edgar A. Poe. The singular poem of Mr. Poe's, called " The Bells," 
which we published in our last Number, has been very extensively copied. 
There is a curious piece of literary history connected with this poem, 
which we may as well give now as at any other time. It illustrates the 
gradual development of an idea in the mind of a man of original genius. 
This poem came into our possession about a year since. It then consisted 
of eighteen lines ! . . . 

About six months after this, we received the poem enlarged and altered 
nearly to its present size and form, and about three months since the author 
sent another alteration and enlargement, in which condition the poem was 
left at the time of his death. 

In a further account, in his Reminiscences of a Very Old Man 
(p. 220), Sartain states that the total amount paid for the several drafts 
of the poem was forty-five dollars. In an earlier account [Lippincoifs 
Magazine, March, 1889 (p. 411)) he disposes of the invidious allegation 
of Stoddard {ibid., January, 1889 (p. 112)) that The Bells was "sold 
thrice, and paid for every time." 

In the original draft made at Mrs. Shew's suggestion, the poem ran 
to only seventeen lines. In the earliest of the texts sent to Sartain 
(reproduced in the footnotes of the present edition from Ingram's 
article in the London Bibliophile, May, 1909), it numbered eighteen 
lines. In the final text sent to Sartain — that pubhshed in November, 
1 849, and followed in the present edition • — it runs to 1 1 2 lines. 

Besides the three versions (the Shew MS. and the two printed ver- 
sions) already mentioned, there is a late revision of the poem preserved 
in proof sheets intended for publication in the Richmond Examiner 
in the fall of 1849 (see Whitty, p. 230); and there is also a manuscript 
copy of the poem (lacking the last fourteen lines), now in the possession 
of Mr. J. P. Morgan of New York City (reproduced in facsimile by Gill 
(opposite page 206) and in part by Woodberry (II, opposite page 258) 



28o THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

and by Ingram in the London Bibliophile for May, 1 909 (pp. 1 29 f .)). 
The Exauiiner proof sheets exhibit one verbal variant from the Union 
text — "Yes" for "Yet" in line 61 — and also several variations in 
punctuation. The Morgan MS., which evidently antedates the text 
first published in the Union Magazine^ falls in with the Examiner 
proof sheets in reading " Yes " for " Yet," and it also agrees with it, 
as a rule, in punctuation ; but it exhibits several verbal variants that 
appear in neither the Union text nor the Examiner proof sheets (see 
the notes on Unes 56, 80, 88). 

Sources. Professor Woodberry holds (II, p. 259) that Poe probably 
drew the original suggestion of The Bells from a passage in Chateau- 
briand's Genie du C/msiianistne [Vdsis, 1836), III, p. 43. This passage 
runs as follows : 

II nous semble que si nous etions poete, nous ne dedaignerions point 
cette cloche agitee par les fantSmes dans la vieille chapelle de la foret, ni 
celle qu'une religieuse frayeur balan9oit dans nos campagnes pour ecarter 
le tonnerre, ni celle qu'on sonnoit la nuit, dans certains ports de mer, pour 
diriger le piiote a travers les ecueils. Les carillons des cloches, au milieu 
de nos fetes, sembloient augmenter I'allegresse publique ; dans des cala- 
mites, au contraire, ces memes bruits devenoient terribles. Les cheveux 
dressent encore sur la tete au souvenir de ces jours de meurtre et de feu, 
retentissant des clameurs du tocsin. Qui de nous a perdu la memoire de 
ces hurlements, de ces cris aigus, entrecoupes de silences, durant lesquels 
on distinguoit de rares coups de fusil, quelque voix lamentable et solitaire, 
et surtout le bourdonnement de la cloche d'alarme, ou le son de I'horloge 
qui frappoit tranquillement I'heure ecoulee ? 

F. W. Thomas states in his reminiscences (see Whitty, p. 233) that 
Poe told him that Dickens's Chimes furnished the " final inspiration " 
of The Bells. The poet may have drawn certain hints, also, from a 
poem entitled Bells published in the New York Mirror of March 1 9, 
1836 (and republished in the Richmond Enquii'er of March 24, 1836, 
while Poe was editing the Southe7ii Literary Messenger). The initial 
stanza of this poem runs thus : 

The distant bells ! the distant bells ! 

I hear them faint and low. 
And Fancy, with her magic spells. 

Is waken'd by their flow ; 
The billowy sounds so deeply fraught 

With memories of the past. 
Stir many a sad and pleasing thought, 

As on the breeze they 're cast. 






NOTES 281 

The remaining stanzas begin as follows : 

" The school-day bell ! the school-day bell ! " 

" The merry bells ! the merry bells ! " 

" The vesper bell ! the vesper bell ! " 

" The Sabbath bells ! the Sabbath bells ! " 

" The tolling bell ! the tolling bell ! " 

Among other poems on bells published in Poe's time — the subject 
seems to have been much in vogue — are the following: (i) a translation 
of Schiller's Song of the Bell in the Democratic Review, March, 1845; 

(2) The Song of the Bell in LittelPs Living Age, December 1 2, 1 846 ; 

(3) T. B. Read's Bells, in his Poems, pubhshed at Philadelphia, 1847 
(pp. Ill f.) ; and (4) The Merry Sleigh Bell in the Uiiion Magasine of 
March, 1848. There was also an essay dealing with the fascination 
of the soynd of bells in the Home fournal, Februar)' 13, 1847; and 
Hawthorne had dealt with the subject in one of his descriptive 
sketches, A Bell's Biography (1837). Most of these, doubtless, fell 
under Poe's eye, and some of them may have exercised some influence 
on him. 

Critical Estimates. The Bells .has been praised without stint for its 
onomatopoetic effects. Professor Harrison (I, p. 287) compares it with 
Southey's Lodore and Hugo's Les Djinns, to Poe's advantage in each 
case. Edwin Markham (I, p. xxxvi) holds that it is " the finest example 
in our language of the suggestive power of rhyme and of the echo of 
sound to sense." According to Professor Newcomer {Poe : Poems and 
Tales, p. 304), " The Bells has made all other onomatopoetic poems in 
our literature seem cheap in comparison." Stoddard declares (I, p. 1 72) : 
" If I were called upon to express my opinion of Poe as a poetic artist, 
I should say that ' The Bells ' was the most perfect example of his 
' power of words,' if not, indeed, the most perfect example of that 
kind of power in all poetic literature." In the popular estimation the 
poem is rated above all other poems by Poe, save The Raven ; but 
although it contains highly imaginative passages and is not without 
emotion and must always be accounted remarkable for its onomato- 
poetic quahties, it is obvious that it is — even more notably than The 
Raven — an artificial production. 

11 tintinnabulation. Perhaps a coinage of Poe's out of Latin 
tintinnabuhim ; no earlier example of its use is recorded by either 
the Oxford Dictionary or the Century Dictionary. Whitty (p. 233) 
quotes a passage from Poulson's Daily Advertiser concerning bells 



282 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

(found, so he states, among the clippings in an old " Marginalia " 
book kept by Poe) in which the word Tintin-nabula appears. 

15 The dash at the end of this line does not appear in the original. 

20 molten-golden notes. Cf. Maurice Thompson's To Sappho, 

11. 53-54: 

Thy song perforce will fill my throat 

And burn it with each golden, molten note. 

40-50 Stedman, in commenting on these lines {Poets of America, 
p. 244), remarks that " it is a master-stroke that makes us hear [the 
bells] shriek out of tune " ; and he goes on to say in defense of the 
" extravagance " of the imagery, that it " so carries us with it that ^e 
think not of its meaning; we share in the delirium of the bells." 

60 pale-faced moon. Cf. i He^try IV, I, iii, 1. 202: 

To pluck bright Honour from the pale-fac'd moon. 

56 On. The Morgan MS. reads " In." 

61 Yet. Both the Morgan MS. and the Exammer -prooi sheets (see 
Whitty, p. 65) read " Yes." It is possible that the reading of the Union 
Magazi?ie here is due to a printer's error, though it furnishes a more 
nearly perfect parallehsm with line 57. 

65 anger. Instead of this word, the Morgan MS. had originally 
" clamor," but this is stricken out in favor of the present reading. 
Similarly, in line 69 " anger " is deleted, and " clamor " substituted. 

70 This and line 99 are the only lines from the briefer Union text 
that are retained unaltered in the final text of the poem ; only one 
line (99) remains unaltered from the Shew MS. 

75 menace. The Morgan MS. originally read " meaning," for which 
this was later substituted. 

77 From the rust within their throats. In the Morgan MS. this 
originally read, " From out their ghostly throats." 

80 The Morgan MS. originally read, quite tamely, " Who live up 
in the steeple " ; the words " Who live," however, are deleted in the 
manuscript, and "They that sleep" substituted; and this reading, in 
turn, gave way to that of the present text. 

88 They are Ghouls. The gain in directness and emphasis through 
the substitution of these three words for the two hnes that appear in the 
Morgan MS. — 

But are pestilential carcases [sic) disparted from their souls — 
Called Ghouls — 
is readily obvious. 

91 In the Morgan MS. the line is written as a part of Hne 90. 



NOTES 283 



TO HELEN (126) 

{Union Magazine, November, 1848; 1850) 

(Text: 1850) 

This poem is addressed to Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, the poetess, 
of Providence, Rhode Island. It was written at some time during the 
first half of the year 1848 (see Woodberry, II, pp. 374 f., and Last 
Letters of Edgar Allati Poe to Sarah Helen IVkitman, ed. Harrison, 
p. 40) in response to a poem of Mrs. Whitman's {The Raven), which 
had been read at a valentine party in New York on February 14, 1848, 
and published in the Home Journal of March 18, 1848. The text 
of Griswold's edition, which is followed here, contains two lines not 
found in the Union text (see the note on lines 26-28). Griswold's 
authority for these was probably some corrected clipping found among 
Poe's papers, though he may have used some manuscript which had 
been sent by Poe to Mrs. Whitman. 

Poe's love affair with Mrs. Whitman furnishes one of the most 
romantic episodes in his very romantic career. The two first met in 
September, 1848, but if Poe's own account may be believed, he had 
cherished in secret an affection for Mrs. Whitman for several years; 
To Helen, indeed, purports to refer to the occasion of his first seeing 
her in the summer of 1845. Poe proposed marriage, it seems, on his. 
first visit to Mrs. Whitman's home, and pressed his suit with extreme 
ardor. In November she consented to an engagement, with the under- 
standing that Poe should abstain from the use of intoxicants. Late in 
December Poe went on to Providence for the marriage, the banns were 
duly read, and a clergyman was engaged to perform the ceremony ; but 
on the day before that appointed for the wedding Mrs, Whitman was 
informed that the poet had violated his pledge to her, and she at once 
broke off the engagement. They did not meet after this. Excellent 
summaries of the entire episode are given by Ingram, pp. 366 f.. and 
Woodberry, II, pp. 267 f. ; and a detailed account is given by Caroline 
Ticknor in her volume, Poe's Helen (New York, 1916). See also 
Professor Harrison's " The Romance of Poe and Mrs. Whitman " (in the 
Century Magazine of January, 1909 (LXXVII, pp. 440 f.)) and the vol- 
ume of Mrs. Whitman's letters already mentioned. Mrs. Whitman herself 
published in 1 860 a book, Edgar Poe and his Critics, devoted largely 
to a defense of Poe against Griswold and others. 



284 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Mrs. Whitman's maiden name was Power. She was born January 19, 
1S03, at Providence, Rhode Island. In 1828 she married John Winslow 
Whitman, a lawyer of Boston, who died in 1833. She contributed 
verses to a number of the magazines of Poe's day, and was favor- 
ably known to Horace Greeley, George William Curtis, Mrs. Osgood, 
Miss Lynch, and other writers of the time. She died June 27, 1878. 
A collective edition of her poems, including a number inspired by Poe, 
was published at Boston in 1879. 

To Helen is notable among Poe's poems for its vivid picture of 
nature. See, for other poems in which nature plays a part, the intro- 
ductorv note on Evening Star. 

Title. In the Union Magasine. simply To , and so 

also in the text printed by Griswold in the Xciv York Tribune (evening 
edition) of October 9, 1849, and in the 10th edition of his antholog)'. 
It is possible that the title which Griswold gives in his edition (1850) 
is not authentic, but Griswold is, I believe, entitled to the benefit of 
any doubt. He perhaps used a corrected clipping found among Poe's 
papers, or, possibly, a manuscript that Poe had sent Mrs. Whitman. 

1 f . Cf. Griswold's " Memoir," p. xlv : 

His name was now [that is. late in 1S4S] frequently associated with that 
of one of the most brilliant women of New England, and it was publicly 
announced that they were to be married. He had first seen her on his way 
from Boston, when he visited that city to deliver a poem before the Lyceum 
there. Restless, near the midnight, he wandered from his hotel near where 
she lived, until he saw her walking in a garden. He related the incident 
afterward in one of his most exquisite poems, worthy of himself, of her, 
and of the most exalted passion. 

Griswold is in error in assigning the incident with which the poem 
deals to the autumn of 1 845 (the precise date of the Boston engagement 
was October 16); the time referred to was evidently that of his visit to 
Providence with Mrs. Osgood in the summer of 1845 (see the Last 
Letters of Poe to Mrs. Whitman, p. 8). Poe, it will be noted (lines 3 
and 21), associates the incident with the month of July; and that his 
trip to Providence was actually made in that month is proved by 
Chivers's account of his relations with Poe in i S45 (see " The Poe-Chivers 
Papers." Century Magazine. Januarys 1903 (LX\\ p. 443)). According 
to Miss Ticknor {Poe's Helen, pp. 3-5, 61 X Mrs. Whitman averred that 
Griswold was also in error in interpreting the poem as referring literally 
to the poet's glimpse of her in her rose garden. 



NOTES 285 

21, 22 I have omitted the comma after "Fate" in each line, and 
also — in accordance with present usage — the comma after " Sorrow." 

26-28 (Oh, Heaven ! — oh, God! . . . Save only thee and me.) This 
passage first appeared in Gris\vold"s edition of Foe (1850). According 
to Ingram {Poetical Works of Foe (New York, 1888), p. 53), the lines 
were omitted in the Union Magazine " contrary to the knowledge or 
desire of Poe." But Mr. Whitty (p. 237) expresses doubts as to their 
genuineness. 

28 In the original the mark of parenthesis is erroneously placed at 
the end of the preceding line. 

34, 35 the very roses' odors Died in the arms of the adoring airs. 
In an article signed " C. M." (Caroline May.?) in the Home Journal of 
November 25, 1848, Poe is charged with having "boldly plagiarized" 
this idea from a hne of Mrs. S. J. Hale's Three Hozirs (Philadelphia, 
1S48, p. 37): 

. The sound, it died in the arms of night. 

(See for Poe's comment, the Last Letters of Poe and Mrs. Mliitman, 
pp. 40, 42.) 

37-66 Poe makes a good deal of the eyes (see the note on Ta?ner- 
lane, 1. 1 1 1). Nowhere else, however, does he dwell on the eyes at such 
length as here. 

51-56 Imitated by Baudelaire in his sonnet, Le Flambeau Vivant, 
11. I, 6-7: 

lis marchent devant moi, ces Yeux plains de lumieres . . . 
lis conduisent mes pas dans le route de Beau ; 
lis sent mes' serviteurs et je suis leur esclave. 

59, 60 Stoddard (I, p. 162) objects to what he calls the "refrain 
principle '' in these and other lines of the poem on the ground that they 
do violence to the dignity of blank verse. 

61 In 1850, the comma is printed inside the parenthesis. 

65, 66 Cf. H. B. Hirst's sonnet Astarte (11. lo-ii): 

thy argent eyes 
(Twin planets swimming through love's lustrous skies). 

The sonnet was quoted by Poe in his review of Hirst's TJie Coming of 
the Mamtnoth, etc., in 1845 (Harrison, XII, pp. 179-180). 



286 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

ELDORADO (128) 

{Flag of Oil?- Union, April 21, 1849; 1850) 

(Text : 1850) 

This poem, though commonly spoken of as Poe's last poem, was 
evidently written in the late winter or early spring of 1849. Like the 
tale Vo7t Kentpelen afid his Discovery, it is a product of the " gold- 
excitement " of '49 and one of many evidences of Poe's interest in 
contemporary matters. The name " Eldorado " was being freely applied 
to the California gold-regions at the time (cf. a statement in Holdeti's 
Magazine for February, 1849 (p. 126): "This word [Eldorado] is in 
everybody's mouth just now "). Lowell had used it as the title of an 
article dealing with the gold-regions published in the Anti-Slavery 
Standard in 1 848, a part of which was quoted in the Literary World 
of January 6, 1849 ; and in the Liter-ary IVorld for February 10, 1849, 
appeared a poem, Gold Seeking, which began with an allusion to the 
"El Dorado" myth. Bayard Taylor was to publish during the follow- 
ing year his volume of travels in California under the title El Do?-ado. 

The " El Dorado " myth is said to have had its origin in the tradition 
of a gilded king who dwelt in one of the Guianas. The epithet " El 
Dorado " was presently transferred, so the story runs, to the city which 
this king made his capital, a city of marvelous wealth and splendor 
(see A. F. A. Bandelier, The Gilded One, El Dorado, New York, 1893). 
The legend was accepted as true by Sir Walter Raleigh, who went on 
an expedition to the Guianas in 1595-1596 in search of El Dorado; 
but, not finding it, contented himself with publishing accounts of it 
that he had gathered, among them the letters of certain Spaniards 
who professed to have authentic evidence concerning it (see Raleigh's 
Voyages to Guiana (Edinburgh, 1820), pp. 8 f., 24 f., 102 f.). El 
Dorado is mentioned by Milton in one of his magical catalogues of 
names in Paradise Lost (XI, 1. 411), and by Voltaire in his Ca?idide 
(chap, xviii). Poe had alluded to the myth in Dream-Land and in his 
Letter to B . 

The poem is finely emblematic of Poe's own faith and aspirations, 
and, it may be added, also of his life. In a stirring essay entitled " Our 
Heritage of Idealism " [Sewatiee Review, April, 191 2 (XX, pp. 235 f.)). 
Professor C. Alphonso Smith has used the poem to exemplify Poe's 
" quest of the ideal " ; and in the same connection he has brought 



NOTES 287 

out the parallelism with Whittier's Vanishers, Emerson's Forerunners, 
and the opening lines of Lowell's L' Envoi. 

In style the poem is remarkably simple and finished and spontane- 
ous, and it possesses a "light-hearted lilt" (Newcomer, p. 304) that sets 
it quite apart from anything else that Poe wrote in his closing years. 

The Griswold text reproduces the text of the Flag of Our Union 
except for slight corrections in the punctuation. 

Title. Both the Flag of Our Union and Griswold print the title 
as one word, though Poe spelled it as two words in Dreani-Land and 
in the Letter to B . 

FOR ANNIE (129) 

(Flag of Our Union, April 28, 1S49; Honie foitrnal, April 2S, 1849; 1850) 

(Text : 1850) 

" Annie " was Mrs. Annie Richmond of Lowell, Massachusetts. 
Poe first met her in the autumn of 1848 on a visit to Lowell (see 
Ingram, p. 388), and they soon became warm friends. A partial record 
of their friendship is preserved in a number of letters that have sur- 
vived (see Letters, pp. 31 2 f. and passim, and Ingram, pp. 392 f.). Poe 
also introduced Mrs. Richmond into one of his prose sketches, Landor''s 
Cottage (Harrison, VI, pp. 268 f.). 

For Annie was probably written in February or March, 1849. Poe 
sent a copy of it to Mrs. Richmond on March 23, 1849 (see Letters, 

P- 343)- 

The earliest printed text of the poem is that of the Flag of Our 
Union for April 28, 1849. A revised draft appeared in the Home 
fournal of the same date. But that the Flag appeared in advance 
of the Home fournal is indicated both by a letter of Poe's to 
Mrs. Richmond, in which he complains that the Flag " so mis- 
printed " his lines that he was " resolved to have a true copy " 
(Letters, pp. 346, 351), and by an editorial notice in the Flag for 
May 1 2, 1 849, in which the Home fournal is called to account for 
copying the poem " without a word of credit." At some time during 
the summer or early autumn of 1 849, Poe sent Griswold a manuscript 
copy for use with the tenth edition of his Poets and Poetry of America 
{Letters, p. 346). The same text was followed by Griswold in his edition 
of Poe (1850). A text exhibiting one verbal variant (" But " for " And," 
in line 45) is preserved in some proof sheets made for the Richmond 



jSS niK rOF.MS of KDGAR ALLAN FOF. 

ILramini-r in the fall of 1 849 (see Whitty, pp. \-iii, 240 f.\ There is 
also an imperfect manuscript version (see the facsimile gi\>?Ji by Ingram 
in the London Iiif>/i\>/>^-i7^ for May, 1909 (p. 134^'> which agrees in the 
main with the version printed in the J^/*i^ and which \\x->uld seem to 
make Toe responsible for most of the " misprints " that he complains 
erf in that text. The text here adopted is that of Griswold (^1850) with 
slight corrections in punctuation. 

In his letter to Willis asking that he reprint the poem in the Nome 
yotffyitiJ {J.rtUn\ p. 35i\ Poe had requested that he "say something 
on these lines " if they please^i him. Willis responded with the follow- 
ing editorial note prelixed to the poem : 



Opp Pokm! 

The following exquisite specimen of the /rit\tU freffftr t'm «\>n/jr has 
been sent us by a friend, and we are glad to be able to add it to the 
scraps-book of singxilarities in literature which so many of our fair readers, 
doubtless, ha\-e \ipon the nible. Foe certainly has that gift of nature, 
which an abstract man shovild be most proud of — a type of mind different 
from all others without being less truthful in its perceptions for that 
difference ; and though ^to xise two long words) this kind of iJi^^ttcrair 
is necessarily t\ite/'<fiit\\ and, fn>m want of sj-mpsuhy, cannot be largely 
popular, it is as \-aluable as rarity in am^hing else, and to be admired by 
connoisseurs proportionateh-. Money (to tell a useless truth) could not 
be better laid oxit for the honor of this peri<»d of American literature — 
neither by the goxifmment. by a society-, nor by an individual — than in 
giving Kdg;ir Toe a competent annuity, on condition that he should ne\-er 
write except upon impulse, neA-er dilute his thoughts for the magaxines;, 
and never publish anything till it had been written a )-ear. And this 
fvwmsr the threatening dropsy of our country's literature is its copying 
the gregariousness which pre\-ails in e^'eJ^\^hing else, while Mr, Poe is 
not only peculiar in himself, but unsusceptible of imiution. We have 
Bulwers by hundreds, Mr^ Hemanses by thousands, Byrons common as 
shirt-cc>llars, e\-er\- kind of writer " by the lot." and less of i>tJiTi.i»iaI^sfMr 
^<fr«-fW than any other countr\- in the world. This extends to other things 
as well. Horace Greeley is a national ie\*-el (we think) frv>m being humbly 
}b-^t fearlessly individualesque in politics and conduct. What is commonly 
understood by ecvr/ttrttyti- is but a trashy copy of what we mean. The 
reader's mind will easily pick out instances of the true indi\-idualesque in 
e\-ery- walk of life, jind as a mere suggestion we here lea\-e it — proceeding 
to i;ive Mr. Toe's \-er5es. 



NOTES 289 

In sending a manuscript of the poem to Mrs. Richmond in March, 
1849, I'oc wrote her: " 1 think the lines 'For Annie' . . . much the 
best I have ever written " {Letters, p. 344). In this judgment he has 
been sustained by at least one of his critics, William Stebbing, who writes 
(in his The Poets : Chaucer to Tennyson, H, p. 203): " 1 am inclined 
to rank it highest in Foe's poetic work. Nothing surpasses it in soar- 
ing fancy, or equals it in ideas and spiritual power." Stcdman also 
praises it: "For repose, and for delicate and unstudied melody," he 
says {/'oets of America, p. 246), " it is one of Toe's truest poems." 
And Madame Blanc remarks {Rctuc des deux Mondcs, May r, 1886, 
p. 105): ^' For yliinie est Ic plus tendrc de tous les poi-mes de Poe." 
Robertson (p. 90) pronounces the poem " a wonderful lullaby," and adds 
(p. 92) that it possesses " that crowning quality of emotional plenitude 
which with perfection of form, makes great poetry as distinguished 
from fine -verse." But some of the critics find little to praise in For 
Annie. Professor Woodberry, for instance, in the earlier edition of 
his life of Poe (p. 32S), alludes to the poem as " the ghoulish lines ' To 
Annie ' " ; Markham inquires, in commenting on lines 39 f. (I, p. xxxvi) : 
" What can we say severe enough of the poetry of such verses as these.? " ; 
Newcomer, also, asserts {American Literature, p. 124) that certain 
stanzas are " very sorry trash " ; and Richardson {American Literature, 
II, p. 112) characterizes the fifth and sixth stanzas as " doggerel." 

The conception underlying the poem is by no means a new one, 
but it is treated with extraordinary vividness of detail. The poet rep- 
resents himself as lying in the tomb, after death, and rejoicing in the 
release from trials and disappointments and sorrows of this life, and 
exulting in the dream of " Annie's " love. (See the note on line 5 for 
certain parallels to this fundamental idea.) 

1, 2 The punctuation of Griswold is misleading; I have substituted 
a comma for the dash printed by him after " crisis," and have inserted 
a comma after " danger." 

5 the fever called " Living." The idea was a favorite one with 
Shelley, cf. Prometheus Unbound, III, iii, 11. 111-114: 

Death is the veil which those who live call life : 
They sleep, and it is lifted ; 



Sonnet, beginning 



Lift not the painted veil which those who live 
Call Life ; 



290 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN FOE 

and AtAwd/s, 11. 343-344 : 

Peace, peace ! he is not dead, he doth not sleep — 
He hath awakened from the dream of life. 

See also Adonais, 11. 352 f.. 460 f. ; Promt-fht-tis Unbound, III, iv, 
1. 190; arid compare Milton's sonnet. 0/t the Religious Memory of 
Mrs. Catherine Thomson, 11. 1-4: 

\Yhen Faith and Love, which parted from thee never, 
Had ripen'd thy just soul to dwell with God, 
Meeklv thou didst resign this earthy load 
Of Death, call'd Life, which us from Life doth sever. 

Cf. also a passage in Toe's Mes/neric Revelation (Harrison. V. p. 250): 
" There are two bodies — the rudimental and the complete ; correspond- 
ing with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly. What we 
call ' death ' is but the painful metamorphosis. Our present incarnation 
is progressive. preparator\-, temporarj'. Our future is perfected, ulti- 
mate, immortal. The ultimate life is the full design." 

16 Might fancy me dead. This would seem at first to involve a 
contradiction, but, taken in connection with the opening stanza, it is 
consistent enough: to the eye the lover appears to be dead (and the 
" painful metamorphosis called death " has been passed), but according 
to the poet's conception he has now passed into a happier and truer life. 

39 f . See the comment of Edwin Markham quoted above in the 
introductory note. 

45 And. The Examiner proof sheets read " But " (see Whitty, 
p. 240), the only verbal variation of that text from Griswold. 

56 In the interest of clearness I have inserted a comma after 
" RegTetting." 

68, 64 A rosemary odor, Commingled with pansies. A reference to 
Ophelia's words {^Hamlet. \\\ v. 11. i56f.V. "There's rosemar}-, that's 
for remembrance : pray you. love, remember : and there is pansies, 
that's for thoughts." Cf. also Shelley's Remembrance, 11. 17-20: 

Lilies for a bridal bed — ■ 
Roses for a matron's head — 
Violets for a maiden dead — 
Pansies let my flowers be. 

66 Puritan pansies. Echoed by Gerald Massey (as noted in the 
Southern Literary Messenger for June, 1857 (p. 479)) in his Craig 
crook Castle: 



NOTES 291 

The Pansies, pretty little puritans, 

Came peeping up with merry Elvish eyes. 

75 f. According to a letter to Mrs. Richmond, written November 16, 
1S48 (see Ingram, p. 393), Poe had exacted of Mrs. Richmond, on one 
of his visits to Lowell, a promise that she would " under all circum- 
stances . . . come to [him] on [his] bed of death." 

83 the queen of the angels. A reference, evidenUy, to the Virgin 
Mary (cf. the apostrophe to Mary in the lines entitled Hymn and the 
mention of " high-born kinsmen " in Annabel Lcc, 1. 1 7). 

86, 90 The comma that follows each of these lines in 1850 I have 
transferred to the end of the parenthesis in the following lines. 

88 See the note on line 16. 

90 In the interest of consistency (see 1. 86) I have inserted a comma 
after " Now." 



TO MY MOTHER (133) 

(F/t7g of Oil}- ['/lion, July 7, 1849; J^i^'lf^cts of Mcnwiy, 1850: 1850) 

(Tkxt: 1850) 

In a letter to Mrs. Richmond, without date but written not earlier 
than April 28 nor later than June 9, 1849 {Letters, p. 346), Poe states: 
" The Flag has two of my articles yet — 'A Sonnet to my Mother' and 
' Landor's Cottage.' " Laiutoi's Cottage had been sent to the Flag at 
some time in March or April, 1849 (see Letteis, pp. 343-344). It is 
probable that the present poem was sent about the same time, and that 
it was written towards the end of the preceding winter or in the early 
spring. 

The text printed in the Flag (July 7, i 849) was followed by Griswold 
except for one verbal change — the substitution of " dear " for " sweet " 
in line 5 — and the omission of the word " Sonnet" in the tide. The 
text published in Leaflets of Memoiy (a Philadelphia annual edited by 
Dr. Reynall Coates) evidendy represents a revision of the Flag text. 
Poe probably left the manuscript of the poem with the editor of the 
Leaflets when he passed through Philadelphia on his way to Richmond 
in July, 1 849. The L^eaflets appeared at some time before November 1 7, 
1849 (see the review of it in the Literary World of that date). The 
poem was copied from that volume in the Union Magazine of 
December, 1849, and also in the Southern Literary Messenger of 



292 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

the same month, being published in both magazines not as an origi- 
nal contribution but in the editorial section. A text identical with that 
of the Lciijlets, save for a slight difference in spelling, is preserved in 
proof sheets made for the Richmond Examiner in the fall of 1849 
(Whitty, p. 241). Griswold in following the Flag text so closely acted, 
perhaps, without authority ; but the Leaflets text could not have been 
unknown to him (appearing, as it did, not alone in the Leaflets but in 
the two magazines just mentioned); the one variation that appears 
in his text would seem, moreover, to furnish of itself confirmation of 
its authenticity. The balance of evidence appears to be in Griswold's 
favor, and his text has accordingly been followed in this edition. 

The subject and inspiration of the poem is obviously the poet's own 
aunt and mother-in-law, Mrs. i\Iaria Clemm. The assertion that she 
sustained the relation of mother to the poet is supported by the testi- 
mony of all who knew her. The testimony of no one on this point 
is fuller or more eloquent than that of N. P. Willis, in whose office 
Poe was employed as assistant editor of the Mirror for several months 
in 1 844-1 845 and with whom Poe was in more or less constant com- 
munication during the last five years of his life. Willis's tribute to 
Mrs. Clemm (published in his notice of Poe's death in the Home 
Journal of October 13, 1849) is in part as follows: 

Our first knowledge of Mr. Poe's removal to this city [New York] was 
by a call which we received from a lady who introduced herself to us as 
the mother of his wife. She was in search of employment for him, and 
she excused her errand by mentioning that he was ill. . . . The counte- 
nance of this lady, made beautiful and saintly with an evidently complete 
giving up of her life to privation and sorrowful tenderness, her gende and 
mournful voice urging its plea, her long-forgotten but habitually and un- 
consciously refined manners, and her appealing and yet appreciative mention 
of her son. disclosed at once the presence of one of those angels upon earth 
that women in adversity can be. . . . Winter after winter, for years, the 
most touching sight to us, in this whole cit}", has been that tireless minister 
to genius, thinly and insufficiently clad, going from office to office with a 
poem, or an article on some literary subject, to sell — sometimes simply 
pleading in a broken voice that he was ill, and begging for him — mention- 
ing nothing but that " he was ill," whatever might be the reason for his 
writing nothing: and never, amid all her tears and recitals of distress, 
suffering one svllable to escape her lips that could convey a doubt of 
him, or a complaint, or a lessening of pride in his genius and good inten- 
tions. Her daughter died, a year and a half since, but she did not desert 
him. She continued his ministering angel, — living with him — caring for 
him — guarding him against exposure, and, when he was carried away by 



NOTES 293 

temptation, amid grief and the loneliness of feelings unreplied to, and 
awoke from his self-abandonment prostrated in destitution and suffering, 
^''gi^"'.i:' fof l^i"'' still. If woman's devotion, born with a first love, and fed 
with human passion, hallow its object, as it is allowed to do, what does not 
a devotion like this — pure, disinterested, and holy as the watch of an 
invisible spirit — say for him who inspired it? 

5 dear. Both the F/di^ and Lcaflefs of Memory read " sweet." 
7 heart of hearts. Cf. the note on PolUian, III, 1. 57. 



ANNAREI- LEE (134) 

(New York Tribune, October 9, 1S49; Soiii/iern Literary Messenger, No- 
vember, 1849; Griswold's Poets and Poetiy of America, loth edition, 
1850; Union Magazine, ]m\w2^xy, 1850; 1850) 

, (Text : Southent Literary Messeni^er) 

Date of Composition. .Iniiabel Lee was written, we can be reasonably 
sure, in the late winter or spring of 1849. In a letter to Mrs. Richmond 
{Letters, pp. 345-346), undated, but belonging to some date between 
April 28 and June 9, 1849 (see the allusions to /•>?/- Annie and 
Landoi's Cottage), Poe speaks of the poem as though it had been 
recently written : " I have written a ballad called ' Annabel Lee,' which 
I will send you soon." Griswold reports that Poe assured him "just 
before he left New York" in June, 1849, that Annabel Lee "was the 
last thing he had written " (see the " Ludwig " article, reprinted by Harri- 
son (I, p. 357)). To like effect is the testimony of John M. Daniel, who 
saw a good deal of Poe during the summer of 1849 (cf. the Southern 
Literary Messenger, XVI, p. 185). And Sartain understood the poem to 
have been the last that Poe wrote (see the Union Magazine, VI, p. 99). 
The only testimony conflicting with this view is that of Rosalie Poe 
(reported by Mrs. Weiss, p. 1 29), who declares that she " repeatedly 
heard" Poe read Annabel Lee in the summer of 1S46, and of an 
unnamed correspondent of Professor Harrison, who asserts that he 
heard Poe recite parts of Annabel Lee in a lecture at Richmond in the 
summer of 1848 (Harrison, I, p. 312). But Rosalie Poe probably refers 
(as suggested above) to Ulaliinie, or possibly to Eulalie ; and the state- 
ment of Professor Harrison's correspondent obviously relates to the 
summer of 1849, since Poe did not lecture in Richmond in 1848. 

Text. The text adopted is that of the Southern LJterary Afessenger 
(November, 1 849), which follows (except for an insignificant change in 



294 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

punctuation) an autograph copy given by Poe to John R. Thompson 
(editor of the Messenger) on " the day before he left Richmond " in 
September, 1 849 {Southern Li/erary Messenger, XV, p. 6g6). This 
text, then, has an incontestable claim to finality. Thompson reprinted 
the poem after the same copy in the Messenger of February, 1854 
(XX, pp. 124-125), taking pains to vouch for the accuracy of his 
former statement. The manuscript followed by him is reproduced 
in facsimile by Woodberry (II, opposite page 352). 

The A^eia York Tribune text v^ras published in the evening edition 
of that paper — as a part of Griswold's famous sketch of Poe (signed 
" Ludwig ") — on October 9, 1849, tvi^o days after the poet's death. It 
is based on a manuscript sent to Griswold in June, 1849 (see Letters^ 
pp. 346-347), for use in the forthcoming (loth) edition of his Poets 
and Poetry of America, which appeared in December, 1849. All sub- 
sequent editions of this work reproduce the poem as it appeared in the 
tenth edition. Griswold used the same manuscript, presumably, for his 
edition of Poe's poems (1850), but he there allowed two errors to slip 
in : " kinsman " for " kinsmen " in line 1 7 (perhaps under the influence 
of the Union Magazine) and " the " for " her " in line 40. 

The text of the Union Magazine, published in January, 1850, is 
based on a manuscript (now in the library of Mr. J. P. Morgan) which 
Sartain claimed {Union Magazine, January, 1850 (VI, p. 99)) Poe had 
sold to him " a short time before his decease." Poe had perhaps left the 
manuscript with Sartain when he passed through Philadelphia on his 
way to Richmond in July, 1849 (see Woodberry's account of this visit 
to Philadelphia (II, pp. 309-313)), but some doubt is thrown on the 
accuracy of Sartain's statement that he had " bought and paid for " the 
poem by a notation on the back of the manuscript to the effect that 
the price paid was only five dollars (see Whitty, p. 243) : Poe in his 
letter to Griswold {Letters, pp. 346-347) had suggested to Griswold 
that he dispose of the poem to Graham or to Godey for fifty dollars. 
The Union text, as Whitty has pointed out (p. 243), does not follow 
the manuscript faithfully, printing " kinsman " for " kinsmen " in line 1 7, 
and disregarding Poe's punctuation and type. 

Poe had also submitted a copy of the poem (closely following the 
copy given Thompson) to the Richmond Examiner for publication in 
that paper, and the revised proofs made for this purpose are still in 
existence (see Whitty, pp. viii-x, 242). 

Source and Inspiration. Mrs. Whitman believed that Annabel Lee 
was written in response to her poem, Stanzas for Music, published in 



NOTES 295 

the Meiropolitati Magazine for February, 1849, and was a "veiled 
expression " of Poe's " undying remembrance " of her (see the Century 
Magazine^ January, 1909 (LXXVII, p. 447J). By others it has been 
held to refer to Mrs. Shelton (J. J. Moran, A Defence of Edgar Alla?i 
Poe, p. 32), to Poe's " Baltimore Mary" (the Gree7i Mountain Gem as 
cited by Woodberry (I, p. 376)), and to no one in particular (Mrs. Weiss, 
p. 129). But the view universally held to-day among students of Poe 
is that Annabel Lee was written in memory of Virginia Clemm, the 
poet's child-wife. The best contemporary comment on the point is 
that of Mrs. Osgood, who wrote Griswold shortly after Poe's death 
(Griswold's Memoir, p. liii; : 

I believe she [Virginia Clemm] was the only woman whom he ever truly 
loved ; and this is evidenced by the exquisite pathos of the little poem 
lately written, called Annabel Lee, of which she was the subject. . . . 
I have heard it said that it was intended to illustrate a late love affair of 
the author ; but they who believe this, have in their dullness, evidently 
misunderstood or missed the beautiful meaning latent in the most lovely 
of all its verses — where he says, 

" A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling 
My beautiful Annabel Lee, 
So that her high-bo^rn kinsmen came. 
And bore her away from me." 

There seems a strange and almost profane disregard of the sacred purity 
and spiritual tenderness of this delicious ballad, in thus overlooking the 
allusion to the kiitdred angels and the heavenly Father of the lost and 
loved and unforgotten wife. 

A fairly close prose analogue of the poem is furnished by Poe's 
Eleono?'a^ in which the reference is unmistakably to the poet's wife. 
The parallelism between the two has been brought out in detail by 
Professor Wightman F. Melton in the South Atlantic Quarterly, April, 
I9I2(XI, pp. I75f.). 

On the relations sustained by Poe to his wife, see Mrs. Weiss, 
passim; Woodberry, II, p. 440; and an article by P. A. Bruce, " Did 
Edgar Allan Poe Love his Wife ? " in the Richmond Ti^nes-Dispatch 
of January 7, 191 2. Mrs. Weiss contends that the marriage was one 
of convenience ; and Professor Woodberry inclines to accept this view. 
But Mr. Bruce holds that the poet's affection for his wife was deep 
and genuine, and quotes -at length from those who knew the Poe 
family in support of this view. 



296 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Estimates of the Critics. Among the critics Stoddard is the only 
one who has spoken in dispraise of the poem. " It is difficult to be- 
lieve," he writes in his sketch of Poe (I, p. viii), " that he [the poet] 
was in earnest when he penned the jingling melodies of Annabel Lee, 
for to be in earnest with work like that would betray a disordered 
intellect"; and, again (ibid.^ I, p. 172): "If 'Annabel Lee' and 'For 
Annie' possess any merit other than attaches to melodious jingle, I 
have not been able to discover it." But Stedman — whose sympathy 
with Poe was unfailing — declares that Annabel Lee is "the simplest 
of Poe's melodies, and the most likely to please the common ear," and 
notes that it must have been written with greater spontaneity than was 
usual with the poet (cf. his Poets of America, p. 247). Professor Wood- 
berry, also, pronounces it " the simplest and sweetest of Poe's ballads " 
(II, 351). And Nichol holds {American Literature, pp. 165, 219) that 
it is not only " the finest " of his lyrics, but that it displays the poet's 
passion " at the whitest heat." 

Title. The title was perhaps suggested, in part, by the word " Eulalie " 
— in part, perhaps, by the name of the poet's friend "Annie " (Mrs. Rich- 
mond). The second half of the title may also have been influenced by 
P. P. Cooke's lyric, Rosalie Lee, which Poe was accustomed to recite 
in his lecture on " The Poets and Poetry of America " ; and the first 
half, possibly, by a poem. The Ladye Annabel, by another of the poet's 
friends, George Lippard. 

2 In a kingdom by the sea. The phrase possibly owes something 
to the title of Uhland's lyric. The Castle by the Sea. Longfellow's 
translation of this poem was printed in the Philadelphia Saturday 
Courier of October 7, 1843. Another translation, with the same title, 
was published in the Southern Literary Messenger for March, 1849 

(XV, pp. 147-148). 

17 kinsmen. The Union Magazine, by an atrocious typographical 
error, printed " kinsman " for " kinsmen " ; and this error was copied 
by Griswold in his edition of Poe's poems. The allusion is clearly to 
the " angels ... in Heaven " (1. 21). 

21, 22 Cf. Tamerlane, 11. 88-89 : 

'T was such as angel minds above 
Might envy. 

22 In the original the line closes with a semicolon. - 
41 by the side of the sea. The reading of the Ufiion Magazine 
and of the Griswold texts, " by the sounding sea," would seem to give 



NOTES 297 

to the poem a more sonorous ending. It may have been rejected 
because of its similarity to a line in Mrs. Osgood's The Life Voyage^ 
" Beside the sounding sea " (see Cra/iam's Magazine, November, 
1842 (XXI, p. 265)). 

ELIZABETH (136) 

One of two acrostics addressed by Poe to his Baltimore cousin, 
Elizabeth Rebecca Herring, and preserved in a manuscript page torn 
from an album belonging to her, in which it was originally written. 
The text follows this manuscript gave for slight corrections in punctu- 
ation and spelling. The lines were probably written in i S30 or i S3 1 . 

Miss Herring, whose given names the first letters of the several 
lines of the poem spell out, was the daughter of Eliza Poe, paternal 
aunt of the poet, and Henry Herring (see Letters, p. 14). According 
to the records of St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, she was born October 13, 
I Si 5. She was married — according to the records of Christ Church, 
Baltimore, and the marriage records of the same city — on December 2, 
1S34, to Andrew Turner Tutt. Poe's love affair with her belongs, 
apparently, to the years 1 829-1 831. A volume of the 1829 edition 
of the poems presented to her by the poet and bearing on one of the 
flyleaves the words " For my Cousin Elizabeth " is in the possession 
of Mr. George H. Richmond, of New York City. 

The lines were doubtless an improvisation, and were not included 
by the poet in any edition of his works. 

4 Zeno. " It was a saying of this philosopher that ' one's own name 
should never appear in one's own book.' " — Poe. 

7 pursuing. Spelled " persuing " in the manuscript. 

14 For a similar anacoluthon, see Fairy-La^ui, 1. 33. What " Greek 
name " Poe alludes to I am unable to say. ' 

AN ACROSTIC (136) 

This, also, is an acrostic to the poet's cousin, Elizabeth Herring, 
written in her autograph album about 1 830 or a little later. The present 
text follows Poe's manuscript except for several necessary changes in 
the pointing, the addition of a title, and a correction in spelling. 

3 L. E. L. The signature of Letitia E. Landon (1802-1838), whose 
verses were published broadcast in the periodical press of both England 
and America in the third and fourth decades of last century. 

4 Xanthippe's. Spelled " Zantippe's " in the original. 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



LATIN HYMN (137) 

{Southern Litermy Messenger, M.zxc\x, 1836; 7^/^^,1840; Bivadway Journal, 
December 6, 1845 (iii ^ach instance, incorporated in the tale Four 
Beasts in One)) 

(Text: Broadway Joiiriial) 

A free translation of the following Latin song : 

Mille, mille, mille, 

Mille, mille, mille, 

Decollavimus, unus homo ! 

Mille, mille, mille, mille, decollavimus ! 

Mille, mille, mille ! 

Vivat qui mille mille occidit ! 

Tantum vini habet nemo 

Quantum sanguinis effudit ! 

Poe gives the Latin original along with his translation in his story 
Four Beasts in One (Harrison, II, p. 209). In a footnote he makes the 
following comment on the poem : " Flavius Vopiscus says that the hymn 
here introduced, was sung by the rabble upon the occasion of Aurelian, 
in the Sarmatic war, having slain with his own hand nine hundred and 
fifty of the enemy." The lines, with insignificant variations from the text 
as given by Poe, are to be found in Flavii Vopisci Attreliatms, Tauch- 
nitz edition of Scriptores Historic A ttgus/ce (Leipzig, 1884), II, p. 152. 

Poe was perhaps influenced in the rhythm of his translation by 
Dryden's Alexander's Feast. 

The title is taken from the context. 



SONG OF TRIUMPH (137) 

{Southern Literary Messenger, March, 1836; Tales, 1840; Broadway Journal, 
December 6, 1845 (i^ each, printed as a part of the tale Four Beasts 
in One)) 

(Text : Broadway Journal) 

This poem, like the Latin Hymn, was not published by Poe in any 
edition of his poems, but only as a part of the story Four Beasts in 
One. In the Southerjt Literary Messenger and in Tales (1S40) the 
first four lines of the poem are repeated after line 8. The date of 
composition was probably 1832 or 1833. 



NOTES 299 



ALONE (138) 

These lines were first attributed to Poe by E. L. Didier, who de- 
clares that they were found in an autograph album belonging to a 
Mrs. Balderston of Baltimore and that they bear Poe's signature {The 
Poe Cult, p. 270). They were reproduced in facsimile in Scribiieys 
Monthly for September, 1875 (X, p. 608), being there supplied with a 
title (which is adopted here) and a fictitious date. The original manu- 
script is not in Poc's hand; but the poem is clearly in Poe's early 
manner. It is accepted as genuine by Stedman and Woodberry (X, 
p. 138), by Stoddard (I, p. 35), by Harrison (XVI, p. 378), and by 
Whitty (p. 135). If the work of Poe, it was probably written in 1829 
or 1830. The text here followed is that of the Scribner's facsimile 
(with slight corrections in punctuation). 

A WEST POINT LAMPOON (138) 

This bit of doggerel is attributed to Poe by H. B. Hirst in his 
sketch of Poe in the Philadelphia Satu7-day Museujn (February 25, 
1843), and also by T. W. Gibson, one of his fellow-cadets at West 
Point, in Harper s Motithly, November, 1867 (XXXV, pp. 754 f.), and 
by W. F. Gill in his life of Poe (p. 53). Hirst's sketch was made up 
from materials furnished him by the poet (see Woodberry, II, p. 5), 
and almost surely passed under Poe's eye before publication. 

1 Locke. Assistant Instructor of Tactics at West Point in 1 830-1 83 1. 

LINES TO LOUISA (139) 

These verses were first attributed to Poe by J. H. Whitty (New 
York Sun, November 21, 191 5), who gives them the tide Life's Vital 
Stream. The original manuscript of the lines was found in 1909 
among the welter of old papers in the Ellis-Allan collection (once in 
the possession of the partner of Poe's foster-father), now the property 
of the Library of Congress. ]\lr. Whitty holds that they are in Poe's 
autograph, but of this I do not feel that we can be certain : some of the 
capital letters resemble Poe's, but others are unlike any autograph of his 
that has been preserved ; and both the form adopted and the paper used 
— • a dingy scrap, torn perhaps from some office-book — are against the 
supposition that the lines are his. If Poe's, it is possible that the verses 



300 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

refer to the second Mrs. Allan (one of whose given names was " Lomsa "); 
and on that supposition they must have been ^vTitten in 1 83 1 or there- 
abouts. But Mr. ^^^litr^- suggests 1827 as their probable date. 

The punctuation of the original is very crude. The present editor 
has inserted the periods at the end of lines 4, 1 2, and 1 6 ; the comma 
after "shrieks" in line 7 and after "soul" in line 13; and the semi- 
colon at the end of line 13. With other lines the pointing is scarcely 
l^ble. 

The lines appear to have been influenced by Pope's The Dying 
Christian to his Saul. 

S life-drops. Written as two words in the original. So also with 
"eve-balls" in line 6 and "blood-chilling" in line 11. 

9 hideous. Spelled " hidious " in the original. 

TO SARAH \Xh% 

Published above the signature " Sylvio " in the So-utkem Literary 
Messenger of August. 1835. First assigned to Poe by \\'hitty (pp. 142, 
286). on the basis of " a memorandum left by Poe in the ' Duane " copy 
of the Messenger.'' " Sarah " is presumably Miss Sarah Elmira Royster, 
of Richmond (see the introductor\- note on Tamerlane\ The Knes, if 
the work of Poe, were perhaps composed while he was a studeat at 
the University of A'irginia in 1S26. In both style and mood the poaaa 
is unlike Poe's fully authenticated work. 

1-S Cf. the opening stanza of Wordsworth's E.-rpostuiatitm and 

Reply {17^) •■ 

Why, William, on that old grey srone. 
Thus for the length of half a day. 
Why, William, sit )-ou thus alone. 
And dream your time away? 

In his Letter to B Poe had expressed his disapproval of Words- 
worth, and Bri^s wrote Lowell in 1 845 : " He does not read 
Wordsworth, and knows nothing about him " (Woodberr\% II, p. 146X 
But Poe appears to have echoed certain lines of Wordsworth in some 
of his early \-erses (see Romance (text of 1S31), 1. 47: The Valley of 
Unrest. U. 15-16; and The Coliseum. 1. 46). And wMle he objected to 
Wordsworth's didacticism, his references to him in his critical writings 
are not inx^ariably disparaging. 

17 Hennia's dew. An error for " Hermon's dew " ; see the note on 
Politzan, II, IL 34-35. 



NOTES 301 

BALLAD (140) 

First published in the Southern Literacy Messettger of August, 1835 
(I, pp. 705-706), and there preceded by the following letter: 

Mr. White: 

The subjoined copy of an old Scotch ballad, contains so much of the 
beauty and genuine spirit of by-gone poetry, that I have determined to risk 
a frown from the fair lady by whom the copy was furnished, in submitting 
it for publication. The ladies sometimes violate their promises — may I 
not for once assume their privilege, in presenting to the readers of the 
Messenger this "' legend of the olden time," although / promised not ? 
Relying on the kind heart of the lady for forgiveness for t/i/s breach of 
promise, I have anticipated the pardon in sending you the lines, which I 
have never as yet seen in nrint. Sidnfv 

The poem was first associated with Poe by Stedman and Woodberry 
(X, p. 161); and Professor Woodberry suggests (Life, II, p. 415) that 
it was " probably the first draft " of Bridal Ballad (published in the 
Messejiger of January, 1837). In this view he is almost surely correct. 
One line of the poem (31) reappears, with the omission of a single word, 
in Bj-idal Ballad, and the two are otherwise strikingly similar in diction 
and meter and atmosphere, as well as in theme. 

The poem, if the work of Poe, probably has reference to Miss Royster's 
marriage to Mr. Shelton (see the notes on Tamei'laiie and the lines To 
Sarah). In none of the fully authenticated poems is there mention of the 
leave-taking between the poet and Miss Royster (on his departure, sup- 
posedly, for the University), nor of the attitude of Miss Royster's mother 
to the poet — though there is a possible allusion in Bridal Ballad (see 
the note on line 3 of that poem) to the influence exerted by Mr. Shelton's 
wealth in determining the issue of his suit. 

1-4 Cf. the fourth stanza of the 1837 version of Bridal Ballad 
(reproduced in the note on Bridal Ballad, 1. 19). 

31 Identical with line 23 of Bridal Ballad except that the latter 
omits " poor " before " heart." 

FRAGMENT OF A CAMPAIGN SONG (141) 

Attributed to Poe by Gabriel Harrison, in an article published in the 
New York Times Saturday Review of March 4, 1 899, from which the 
present text is copied (save for the addition of a title). Harrison states 
that the lines were composed by Poe on a visit to New York in the 



302 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

winter of 1843- 1844, and that there were all together five stanzas and 
a chorus. Poe was a Whig in politics, and at times displayed an active 
interest in political affairs, especially in 1 842-1 843, when he was en- 
deavoring to secure an appointment to a position in the Philadelphia 
custom house. The "White Eagle" was the name of a political club 
of which Harrison was president at the time. 



IMPROMPTU (142) 
To Kate Carol 

Published in the Broadway Journal of April 26, 1845, under the 
heading " Editorial Miscellany " ; and first attributed to Poe by J. H. 
Whitty (pp. 147, 287). " Kate Carol " was one of the pen-names under 
which Mrs. Osgood wrote (cf. Griswold's statement in Laurel Leaves^ 
the second edition of The Memorial in honor of Mrs. Osgood, p. 22, 
note, and articles by her under that signature in Labree''s Illustrated 
Magazine and the Union Magazine in 1847). That Poe composed 
the lines is highly probable. At the time of their publication he was 
writing the bulk (if not all) of the editorial miscellany in the Broad- 
way Journal, and he was publishing about this time other verses to 

Mrs. Osgood (see the notes on To F and To F s S. O d) ; 

and Mrs. Osgood had recently contributed verses to the Broadway 
Journal that were apparently meant for Poe {Lovers Reply, in the 
issue of April 12, 1845). 

2 those pure orbs. Cf . A Valentine, 11. i -2 : 

For her these lines are penned, whose luminous eyes, 
Brightly expressive as the twins of Loeda ; 

and see also Poe's description of Mrs. Osgood's eyes in his sketch of 
her in the Literati (Harrison, XV, p. 104) : " Eyes of a clear, luminous 
gray, large, and with a singular capacity of expression." 

4 For Poe's weakness for punning, see the note on A Valentine, 1. 17. 



THE DEPARTED (142) 

Printed in the Broadway Journal of July 12, 1845 (H, p. 7), and 
there signed " L." Attributed to Poe by Thomas Holley Chivers in 
the Waverley Magazine of July 30, 1853 (p. 73). The lines resemble 
more the work of Chivers or Ide or Hirst than that of Poe. The 



NOTES 303 

signature " L " appears nowhere else in the Btvadway Journal, but 
is appended to an article, " Our Magazine Literature," in the New 
World of March 1 1, 1843, which is assigned to Poe by W. M. Griswold 
[Correspondence of R. W. Griswold^ p. 118). Poe, it may be added, 
had published in the Broadway Journal a number of tales over the 
signature " Littleton Barry " (or " Barry Littleton "). On the other 
hand, it should be noted that there were articles in other periodicals 
of the time signed " L " that are clearly not Poe's (see poems in the 
U^eekly Mirror for October 26, and November 23, 1844, and in 
Graham's Magazine for December, 1845). Obviously the evidence 
on which the lines were assigned to Poe is extremely flimsy. Chivers 
contended that the lines are an imitation of his poem To Allegra 
Florence i/i Heaven^ which he held also furnished the original sug- 
gestion of the meter and the style of The Raven. 



THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS (143) 

Published above the signature " P." in Graham''s Magazine for 
October, 1845. Attributed to Poe by J. H. Whitty in the New York 
Snn of Novenjber 21, 191 5 (see also a revision of this article in the 
New York Nation of January 27, 191 6). The grounds given by 
Mr. Whitty for assigning the lines to Poe are, first, the presence of 
the initial " P." and, second, the fact that, in a copy of Grahani's 
Magazine (for 1 845-1 846) once owned by Mrs. F. S. Osgood, the 
signature affixed to the poem is expanded — in a handwriting which 
Mr. Whitty believes to be Mrs. Osgood's — so as to read " E. A. Poe." 
The lines refer, according to Mr. Whitty's theory, to Mrs. Osgood, who 
wrote at one time, so Mr. Whitty declares, under the pen-name " Ellen." 
The verses are obviously not in Poe's usual manner. 



STANZAS (144) 

First published in Graham'' s Magazine for December, 1845, being 
there subscribed with the initial " P." Assigned to Poe by Mr. Whitty, 
on evidence similar to that advanced in support of the authenticity of 
The Divine Right of Kings (New York Swi., November 21, 191 5). 
If Poe's, the lines doubtless refer to Mrs. Osgood, to whom the poet 
addressed A Valentine (see pp. 1 15-1 16, above) in February, 1846. 



304 THE POEMS OF EDGx\R ALLAN POE 

GRATITUDE (145) 

To 

Published in The Symposia of Proxidence, Rhode Island, January 27, 
1848, and there signed " E. A. P." (cf. Whitt}^ p. 286). First attributed 
to Poe by J. H. Whitty, who suggests that the poem was inspired by 
Mrs. Whitman. The fact that it bears Poe's initials furnishes evidence 
in favor of its authenticity that cannot be ignored, though the style of 
the poem furnishes equally strong evidence against Poe's authorship. 
It is possible that the lines were written by some other versifier who 
happened to have the same initials as Poe ; or that Poe's initials were 
affixed to the lines by way of hoax. If written by Poe, it is possible 
that they refer to Mrs. Shew ; though the final line, with its reference 
to spiritualistic influences, and the fact that the lines were published 
at Providence may be held to favor the supposition that they refer to 
Mrs. Whitman. The text here printed is that of Whitty (pp. 144-145). 



APPENDIX 

COLLATION OF THE EDITIONS PUBLISHED BY POE 
1827 

Tamerlane /and/Other Poems. /By a Bostonian. 

Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are warm, 
And make mistakes for manhood to reform. Cowper. 

Boston :/Calvin F. S. Thomas . . . Printer./i827. 

18 mo.: pp. 40. P. I : title (as above). P. 2: blank. Pp. 3-4: 
Preface. Pp. 5-21 : Tajneiiane. P. 22: blank. P. 23 : Fugitive Pieces 

(half-title). P. 24 : blank. P. 25 : To (" I saw thee on the 

bridal day'"). Pp. 26-27: Dreams. Pp. 27-28: Visit of the Dead. 
Pp. 28-29 • Evening Star. Pp. 29-30 : Imitation (later known as 
A Dream within a Dream). Pp. 30-32 : Stanzas (without title). 
Pp. 32-33 : A Dreatn (without title). Pp. 33-34 : " The Happiest Day 
— The Happiest Hour'''' (without title). P. 34: The Lake. P. 35 : 
Notes (half-title). P. 36: blank. Pp. 37-40: Notes. 

[This little volume probably came from the press in May or June, 1827. 
It is mentioned in the United States Revieiv and Literary Gazette (Boston) 
for August, 1827, as among recent pubHcations ; and it is also mentioned 
in a similar list in the iVoih American Review of October, 1S27. Appar- 
ently no one condescended to review it; though it was paid the com- 
pliment of being listed in Samuel Kettell's " Catalogue of American 
Poetry" in his Specimens of American Literature (Boston, 1829), III, p. 405. 
The couplet quoted from Cowper on the title-page is from his Tirocinium, 
11. 444-445, and apparently was meant to imply something of remorse on 
the part of the poet for his recent conduct. No copy of 1827 is to be found 
in any of the public libraries of America, though a copy is owned by the 
British Museum. A reprint of the volume, with preface by R. H. Shepherd, 
was published at London in 1SS4 ; and a second reprint was published at 
Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1905.] 

305 



3o6 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

1829 

Al Aaraaf,/Tamerlane,/and/Minor Poems. 

By Edgar A. Poe./Baltimore :/Hatch & Dunning./ 1829. 

Octavo : pp. 72. P. i : title (as above). P. 2 : [Copy Right Secured.]/ 
[Matchett & Woods, printers.]. P. 3 : 

Entiendes, Fabio, lo que vol deciendo ? 
Toma, si, lo entendio: — Mientes, Fabio. 

P. 4: blank. P. 5 : A/ Aaraaf (haU-title). P. 6: What has night to do 
with sleep .YCOM us. P. 7: Dedication./Who drinks the deepest? — 
here's to him./CLEVELAND. P. 8 : blank. P. 9 : "A star was discovered 
by Tycho Brahe which burst forth, in a/moment, with a splendor 
surpassing that of Jupiter — then gradually/faded away and became 
invisible to the naked eye." P. 10: blank. P. 1 1 : Sontiet — To Science 
(without title). P. 12: blank. Pp. 13-21 : Al Aaraaf, Part I. P. 22 : 
blank. P. 23: ^/ ^araa/ (half-title). P. 24: blank. Pp. 25-38: Al 
Aaraaf, Part IL P. 39 : T^^^/z/^r/^z/^ (half-title). P. 40: Advertisement./ 
This Poem was printed for publication in Boston, in the year/1827, but 
suppressed through circumstances of a private nature./P. 41 : To/John 
Neal/This Poem/ Is/Respectfully Dedicated. P. 42 : blank. Pp. 43- 
54: Tamerlane. P. 55 : Miscellaneous Poems (half-title). P. 56: 

My nothingness — my wants — 
My sins — and my contrition — 

SOUTHEY E PeRSIS. 

And some flowers — but no bays. 

Milton. 

P. 57 : Preface (later known as Rotnance). P. 58 : blank. Pp. 59-60 : 

To (later known as A Dreafn within a Dreatn). P. 61 : 

To (later known as Song). P. 62 : To (" The bowers 

whereat," etc.). P. 63 : To the River . Pp. 64-65 : The Lake — 

To . Pp. 65-66 : Spirits of the Dead. P. 67 : A Dream. Pp. 68- 

69 : To AL . Pp. 69-71 : Fairvland. P. 72 : blank. 

[The edition of 1829 appeared in December, 1829, probably towards the 
end of the month, but not later than December 29, as appears from a letter 
of that date to John Neal (cf. Woodberry, I, p. 369). It was mentioned by 
Neal in the December issue of the Yankee and Boston Literary Gazette 
(p. 295) as " about to be published." It is said to have been noticed, also. 



APPENDIX 307 

but unfavorably, in the Baltimore I\Iinerva and Emerald (cf. J. H. Hewitt's 
Shado7i<s on the Wall, p. 41). The Spanish quotation on page 3 I have been 
unable to place. The verse quoted from Comus (on page 5) is line 122 of that 
poem. The line attributed to Cleveland (on page 7) is from a poem entitled 
A Sotig of Sack (1. 36), which was included in the edition of Cleveland's 
poems published in 1687, but which Professor J. M. Berdan (editor of 
Poems of fo/in Cleveland, New York, 1903) informs me is not now 
believed to be the work of Cleveland. The quotation from Southey (on 
page 56) is from his poem entitled Imitation from the Persian, first published 
(with commas where Poe has dashes) in the Bijou for 1828 (p. 98). The 
passage on the same page, attributed to Milton, is misquoted from his 
Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester (1. 57) ; it reads in the original, 
" And some flowers and some bays." A copy of the edition of 1829 is to be 
found in the Peabody Institute at Baltimore, and another in the Library of 
Yale University.] 

1831 

Poems/by/Edgar A. Poe./Tout le Monde a Raison. — Rochefou- 
cault./Second Edition./New York :/ Published by Elam Bliss./ 1 831. 

12 mo.: pp. 124. P. I : Poems (half-title). P. 2: blank. P. 3: title 
(as above). P. 4 : Henry Mason, Printer, 64 Nassau Street, New York. 
P. 5 : To/The U.'S. Corps of Cadets/This Volume/Is Respectfully 
Dedicated. P. 6: blank. P. 7: Contents./ Dedication./Z^//d?r to 

Mr. . I Introduction. I To Helen./ Isi-afel.j The Doomed City ■/ Fat ry- 

lajid.l Irene.l A Pcean.lThe Valley Nis.j Al Aaraaf. j Tamerlane (half- 
titles, in two columns). P. 8 : blank. P. 9 : Letter. P. i o : blank. P. 1 1 : 

Tell wit how much it wrangles 
In fickle points of niceness — 
Tell wisdom it entangles 
Itself in overwiseness. 

Sir Walter Raleigh. 

P. 12: blank. Pp. 13-29: Letter to Mr. . P. 30: blank. 

P. 31 : Introduction (half-title). P. 32: blank. Pp. 33-36: hitroduc- 
tion (later known as Romance). P. 37: Helen (half-title). P. 38: 
blank. P. 39 : To Helen. P. 40 : blank. P. 41 : Israfel (half-title). 
P. 42 : blank. Pp. 43-45 : Israfel. P. 46 : blank. P. 47 : The Doomed 
OVj (half-title). P. 48 : blank. Pp. 49-51: The Doomed City. P. 52 : 
blank. P. 53: Fairyland (^2M-'\:\\\.&). P. 54: blank. Pp. 55-58: Fairy- 
Latid. P. 59: //-^w^ (half-title). P. 60 : blank. Pp. 61-64: /nv/^ (later 
knovra as The Sleeper). P. 65 : A Pa:an (half-title). P. 66 : blank. 
Pp. 57-70: A Paan (later known as Lenore). P. 71 : Valley Als 



308 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

(half-title). P. 72 : blank. Pp. 73-75 : 77/^- r<?//c)' A7>. P. 76 : blank. 
P. ^-j : Al Aaraaf (half-title). P. ^^ : What has night to do with 
sleep ? — CoMUS. P. 79 : A star was discovered by Tycho Brahe which 
burst forth, in a moment, with a splendor surpassing that of Jupiter — 
then gradually faded away, and became invisible to the naked eye. 
P. So : blank. P. 81 : Sonnet— To Science (without title). P. 82 : blank. 
Pp. 83-92: Al Araaf (j-/V)/Part First. P. 93 : --J/ -J ^mw/ (half-tide). 
P. 94: blank. Pp. 95-ioS: Al Aaraaf IVzxt^&coxA. P. 109: Tamer- 
lane (i\2iii-\it\€). P. 110: blank. Pp. 111-124: Tamerlane. 

[This volume came from the press, in all likelihood, in April, 1S31. 

It is dedicated to the West Point Cadets, and the Letter to B , 

which serves as a preface (see pp. 311 f., below), is superscribed "West 

Point, , 1S31." Poe was officially dismissed from the Academy on 

March 6, and he was in New York City on March 10, and in Baltimore 
on May 6 (see Woodberr}% I. pp. 79 f., SS). According to the West Point 
tradition" he left the Academy before the volume appeared, though he had 
raised subscriptions for it prior to his leaving, (see Woodbern,-. I, p. 7S, and 
T. W. Gibson in Harpers Month ly. November, 1S67 (XXXV. pp. 754 f.))- 
The volume was reviewed in the New York Mirror of May 7, 1831. and 
again, brieflv. in Atkinson's Pkiladclf/tia Casket for May, 1S31 (out about 
May I!;). The quotation (p. 11) from Sir Walter Raleigh is from his poem' 
The Lie. 11. 43-46 (Aldine edition, p. 25), Poe substituting the words "fickle," 
" it," and " itself " for " tickle," " she," and " herself " in fines 2, 3, and 4 of 
the original. The quotation from Rochefoucauld I have not been able 
to idendfy. A copy of the edition of 1S31 is owned by the John Hay 
Memorial Libran,' at Providence, Rhode Island.] 

1845 

The Raven and Other Poems. /By/Edgar A. Poe., New York:/ 
Wiley and Putnam, 161 Broadway./ 1 845. 

I 2 mo. : pp. viii 4- 92. P. i : Wiley and Putnam's Library- of 'Amer- 
ican Books./ 77/ir Raven and Oilier Poems (half-tide). P. ii : blank. 
P. iii : tide (as above). P. iv : Entered according to Act of Congress, in 
the year 1S45. by/Edgar A. Poe./In the Clerk's Ofhce of the District 
Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York./ 
T. B. Smith, Stereotyper,/2i6 William Street. P. v: To the Noblest 
of her Sex — /To the Author of/" The Drama of Exile " — /To Miss 
Elizabeth Barrett Barrett. /of England./! Dedicate This A'olume,/ 
With the Most Enthusiastic Admiration/ And vn\h the Most Sincere 
Esteem./E. A. P. P. vi : blank. P. vii : Preface (see below, p. 310). 
P. viii: Contents (the first nineteen titles falling under this general 



APPENDIX 309 

heading, and the remaining eleven under the subtitle " Poems Written 
in Youth"). Pp. 1-5 : The Raven. P. 6 : The Valley of Unrest. 
Pp. 7-S: Bridal Ballad. Pp. g-u : The Sleeper. Pp. 12-13: The 
Coliseum. Pp. 14-15: Lenore. P. 15: Catholic Hymn. Pp. 16 17: 
Israfel. Pp. 18-20: Dream-Land. P. 20: Sottnet — To Zante. Pp. 21- 
22 : The City in the Sea. P. 23 : To One in Paradise. P. 24 : Eiilalie 

— A Song. P. 25: To F s S. O d, and To F . P. 26: 

Sonnet — Silence. Pp. 27-28: The Cotiqueivr Wortn. Pp. 29-30 : The 
Haunted Palace. Pp. 31-51: Scenes from " Politian '''';/ An Unpiib- 
ished Drama. P. 52: blank. P. 53: Poems Written in Youth (half- 
title). P. 54: blank. P. 55 : Sonne/ — 'To Science. Pp. 5'')-73 : -// 
Aaraaf. Pp. 74-82 : Tamerlane. P. 83 : . I Dream. P. 84 : Romance. 

Pp. 85-S6: Fairy-Land. P. 87: 'To ("The bowers whereat, in 

dreams, I see"). P. 88: 'To the River . I'. 89: 'The Lake — 

To . P. 90 : Song. P. 91 : 'To Helen. P. 92 : blank. 

[The volume was reprinted by Wiley and Putnam in London in 1846. 
The American edition came from the press about November 15, 1845. ^"^ 
a letter of this date to Chivers (see the Centttry Jlloffazine, LXV, p. 547) 
Poc wrote that he was sending him a copy of his poems. It was announced 
as "on hand for notice" in the Broadioay foicrnal of November 22, 1845, 
and was advertised as on sale in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter of the same 
date (the selling price being thirty-one cents). The last proofs were read, 
so Poe stated in the Broadivay fournal of December 13, 1845 (see Harri- 
son, XIII, p. 31), on October 15. The copy went to the printers about the 
middle of September (Marrison, XVII, pp. 215-216). It was noticed in the 
A'cT.o York Tribu7ie of November 26, 1S45 (t>y Margaret Fuller), in the iVczi) 
York Mii~}vr of November 29, 1845 ! i" the Democratic Revieiv (briefly) for 
December, 1845; '"^ the Brook Farm I/arl'iuffl'r of December 6, 1845; '^i 
the A'Hicke7iwcker Afaffazine for January, [846; and in the Loudon Literacy 
Gazette, March 14, 1846. The volume is not especially rare. For the 
dedication (to Mrs. Browning) and for the preface, see pp. 310-31 1.] 



PREFACES AND PREFATORY NOTICES 

Preface of the Edition of 1827 

The greater part of the Poems which compose this little volume, 
were written in the year 182 1-2, when the author had not completed 
his fourteenth year. They were of course not intended for publication ; 
why they are now published concerns no one but himself. Of the 
smaller pieces very little need be said: they perhaps savour too much 



310 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

of Egotism; but they were written by one too young to have any 
knowledge of the world but from his own breast. 

In Tamerlane, he has endeavoured to expose the folly of even 
riski/ig the best feelings of the heart at the shrine of Ambition. He 
is conscious that in this there are many faults, (besides that of the 
general character of the poem) which he flatters himself he could, with 
littie trouble, have corrected, but unlike many of his predecessors, has 
been too fond of his early productions to amend them in his ohf age. 

He \\nll not say that he is indifferent as to the success of these 
Poems — it might stimulate him to other attempts — but he can safely 
assert that failure vnW not at all influence him in a resolution already 
adopted. This is challenging criticism — let. it be so. Ji,'os hcEC 
novimus esse ttihil. 

Dedication of the Edition of 1845 

To the Noblest of her Sex — 

To the Author of 

" The Drama of Exile "* — 

To Miss Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 

Of England. 

I Dedicate This A^olume, 

With the Most Enthusiastic Admiration 

And with the Most Sincere Esteem. 

E. A. P. 

Preface of the Edition of 1S45 

These trifles are collected and republished chiefly with a \-iew to 
their redemption from the many improvements to which they have 
been subjected while going '' the rounds of the press." I am natu- 
rally anxious that if what I have written is to circulate at all, it should 
circulate as I wrote it.^ In defence of my own taste, nevertheless, it 
is incumbent on me to say that I think nothing in this volume of 
much value to the public, or verj' creditable to myself. Events not to 
be controlled have prevented me from making, at any time, any serious 
effort in what, under happier circumstances, would have been the field 

1 The reading of the Lorimer Graham copy, the text here adopted. The 
original reading was as follows : " If what I have written is to circulate 
at all, I am naturally anxious that it should circulate as I ^v^ote it." 



APPENDIX 311 

of my choice. With me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion ; 
and the passions should be held in reverence ; they must not — they 
cannot at will be excited, with an eye to the paltry compensations, or 
the more paltry commendations, of mankind. 

E. A. P. 



LETTER TO B 1 

It has been said that a good critique on a poem may be written by 
one who is no poet himself. This, according to yom' idea and mine of 
poetry, I feel to be false — the less poetical the critic, the less just the 

1 From the Soiitkem Literary Messenger for July, 1836 (with slight 
revisions in punctuation and spelling). Originally published as the preface 
of 1831. 

The text of 1831 is entitled Letter to Mr. , and is introduced by 

the following paragraph : 

West Point, iS-ji. 



Believing only a portion of my former volume to be worthy a second edition — 
that small portion I thought it as well to include in the present book as to republish 
by itself. I have, therefore, herein combined Al Aaraaf and Tamerlane with other 
Poems hitherto unprinted. Nor have I hesitated to insert from the " Minor Poems," 
now omitted, whole lines, and even passages, to the end that being placed in a fairer 
light, and the trash shaken from them in which they were imbedded, they may have 
some chance of being seen by posterity. 

In the Messenger text the following editorial comment (perhaps by Poe) 
is printed as a footnote on the article : 

These detached passages form part of the preface to a small volume printed 
some years ago for private circulation. They have vigor and much originality — but 
of course we shall not be called upon to endorse all the writer's opinions. — Ed. 

" B ," according to Harrison (VII, p. xxxv, note), is " a fictitious 

personage." Cullum {Harper's Monthly, XLV, p. 561, note) holds that 

" B " is Poe's abbreviation for Bulwer, and that he meant to dedicate 

his volume to the novelist. It seems more likely, however, that Poe refers 
to Elam Bliss, the publisher of his volume. The article was headed in 1831 

(as we have already noted) Letter to Mr. . Bliss was a patron of 

letters who enjoyed the confidence of more than one of the early poets. 
He was the publisher of the 1832 edition of Bryant's Poems, and of several 
gift-books (including The Talismati, 1828-1830, The American Landscape, 
1830, and Miscella7iies, 1833) to which Bryant contributed ; and he published 
in 1825, with E. White, the iVe^i' York Review and Atheiucum Magazine, a 
journal which was merged in 1826 with the United States Literary Gazette. 



312 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

critique, and the converse. On this account, and because there are but 

few B 's in the world, I would be as much ashamed of the world's 

good opinion as proud of your own. Another than yourself might 
here obsers^e, " Shakespeare is in possession of the world's good opinion, 
and yet Shakespeare is the greatest of poets. It appears then that the 
\vorld judge correctly, why should you be ashamed of their favorable 
judgment.? " The difficulty lies in the interpretation of the word " judg- 
ment " or " opinion." The opinion is the world's, truly, but it may 
be called theirs as a man would call a book his, having bought it ; he 
did not write the book, but it is his ; they did not originate the opinion, 
but it is theirs. A fool, for example, thinks Shakespeare a great poet 
— yet the fool has never read Shakespeare. But the fool's neighbor, 
who is a step higher on the Andes of the mind, whose head (that is 
to say, his more exalted thought) is too far above the fool to be seen 
or understood, but whose feet (by which I mean his ever)'-day actions) 
are sufficiently near to be discerned, and by means of which that 
superiority is ascertained, which but for them would never have been 
discovered — this neighbor asserts that Shakespeare is a great pcet- 
the fool believes him, and it is henceforward his opinion. This neigh- 
bor's opinion has, in like manner, been adopted from one above him, 
and so, ascendingly, to a few gifted individuals, who kneel around the 
summit, beholding, face to face, the master spirit who stands upon 
the pinnacle. * * * * 

You are aware of the great barrier in the path of an American 
writer. He is read, if at all, in f)reference to the combined and estab- 
lished wit of the world. I say established; for it is with Hterature 
with law or empire — an established name is an estate in tenure, of 
a throne in possession. Besides, one might suppose that books, like 
their authors, improve by travel — their having crossed the sea is, with 
us, so great a distinction. Our antiquaries abandon time for distance ; 
our very fops glance from the binding to the bottom of the titie-page, 
where the mystic characters which spell London, Paris, or Genoa, are 
precisely so many letters of recommendation. 

*********** 

I mentioned just now a -vulgar error as regards criticism. I think 
the notion that no poet can form a correct estimate of his own writings 
is another. I remarked before, that in proportion to the poetical talent, 
would be the justice of a critique upon poetry. Therefore, a bad poet 
would, I grant, make a false critique, and his self-love would infallibly 
bias his littie judgment in his favor : but a poet who is indeed a poet, 



APPENDIX 



313 



could not, I think, fail of making a just critique. Whatever should be 
deducted on the score of self-love, might be replaced on account of his 
intimate acquaintance with the subject; in short, we have more in- 
stances of false criticism than of just, where one's own writings are 
the test, simply because we have more bad poets than good. There 
are of course many objections to what I say : Milton is a great example 
of the contrary ; but his opinion with respect to the Paradise Regained^ 
is by no means fairly ascertained. By what trivial circumstances men 
are often led to assert what they do not really believe ! Perhaps an 
inadvertent word has descended to posterity. But, in fact, the Paradise 
Regained is little, if at all, inferior to the Paradise Lost, and is only 
supposed so to be, because men do not like epics, whatever they may 
say to the contrary, and reading those of Milton in their natural order, 
are too much wearied with the first to derive any pleasure from the 
second. 

I dare say Milton preferred Co7nus to either — if so — jusdy. * * * 

As I am speaking of poetry, it will not be amiss to touch slightly 
upon the most singular heresy in its modern history — the heresy of 
what is called very foolishly, the Lake School. Some years ago I 
might have been induced, by an occasion like the present, to attempt 
a formal refutation of their doctrine ; at present it would be a work 
of supererogation. The wise must bow to the wisdom of such men 
as Coleridge and Southey, but being wise, have laughed at poetical 
theories so prosaically exemplified. 

Aristotle, with singular assurance, has declared poetry the most 
philosophical of all writing ^ — biit it required a Wordsworth to pro- 
nounce it the most metaphysical. He seems to think that the end of 
poetry is, or should be, instruction — yet it is a truism that the end 
of our existence is happiness ; if so, the end of every separate part of 
our existence — every thing connected with our existence should be 
still happiness. Therefore the end of instruction should be happiness ; 
and happiness is another name for pleasure; — -therefore the end of 
instruction should be pleasure : yet we see the above mentioned opinion 
implies precisely the reverse. 

To proceed : ceteris paribus, he who pleases, is of more importance 
to his fellow men than he who instructs, since utility is happiness, and 
pleasure is the end already obtained which instrucdon is merely the 
means of obtaining. 

1 Spoudiotaton kai philosophikotaton genes. — Poe. 

[The passage is inaccurately quoted from Aristotle's Poetics, ix, 3.] 



314 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

I see no reason, then, why our metaphysical poets should plume 
themselves so much on tlie utility of their works, unless indeed they 
refer to instiuction with eternity in view ; in which case, sincere respect 
for their piety would not allow me to express my contempt for tlieir 
judgment : contempt which it would be difficult to conceal, since their 
writings are professedly to be understood by the few. and it is the many 
who stand in need of salvation. In such case I should no doubt be 
tempted to think of the de\-il in Mch/iotJi, who labors indefatigably 
through three octavo volumes, to accomplish the desti^uction of one 
or two souls, while any common devil would have demolished one 
or two thousand. 

*********** 

Against tlie subtleties which would make poetrv a study — not a 
passion — it becomes tlie metaphysician to reason — but the poet to 
protest. Yet Wordsworth and Coleridge aie men in yeais ; the one 
imbued in contemplation from his childhood, tlie other a giant in 
intellect and leaining. The diffidence, tlien. with which I venture 
to dispute their authority', would be overwhelming, did I not feel, 
from tlie bottom of my heart, that le;uning has little to do witli the 
imagination — intellect witli tlie passions — or age with poetr}-. * * 

Trifles, like straws, upon the surface flow, 

lie who would search for pearls must dive below.^ 

are lines whicli have done much mischief. As regards the greater truths, 
men oftener err by seeking them at tlie bottom than at the top ; tlie 
depth lies in the huge abysses where wisdom is sought — not in the 
palpable palaces where she is found. The ancients were not always 
right in hiding the goddess in a well : witness tlie light which Bacon 
has thrown upon philosophy ; witness the principles of our divine faith 
— that moral mechmiism by which tlie simplicity of a child may over- 
b:ilance the wisdom of a nian.- 

We see an instance of Coleridge's liability to err. in his B/o^ ;■,!/> /u\i 
LJii'niria — professedly his literar}- life and opinions, but. in fact, a 
treatise de omni scibili ct quibus<1ain aliis. He goes wrong by reason 
of his very profundity, and of his error we have a natural type in tlie 

1 From the prologue of Dryden's AU for Li^7r, 11. -5-:;6. 
- After this line, 1S31 inserts tlie following paragraph : 

Poetn-, .ibove all thinsjs. is ,•» beautiful painting- whose tints, to minute inspection, • 
are confusion woree confounded, but sran boldly out to the curson,- glance of tlie 
connoisseur. 



APPENDIX 315 

contemplation of a star. He who regards it directly and intensely sees, 
it is true, the star, but it is the star without a ray — while he who surveys 
it less inquisitively is conscious of all for which the star is useful to us 
below — its brilliancy and its beauty. 

*********** 

As to Wordsworth, I have no faith in him. That he had, in youth, 
the feelings of a poet I believe — for there are glimpses of extreme 
delicacy in his writings — (and delicacy is the poet's own kingdom — 
his El Dorado) — but they have the appearance of a better day recol- 
lected ; and glimpses, at best, are little evidence of present poetic fire 
— ^we know that a few straggling flowers spring up daily in tiie crevices 
of the glacier. '^ 

He was to blame in wearing away his youth in contemplation with 
the end of poetizing in his manhood. With the increase of his judgment 
the light which should make it apparent has faded away. His judgment 
consequently is too correct. This may not be understood, — but the 
old Goths of Germany would have understood it, who used to debate 
matters of importance to" their State twice, once when drunk, and 
once when sober — sober that they might not be deficient in formality 
— drunk lest they should be destitute of vigor. 

The long wordy discussions by which he tries to reason us into 
admiration of his poetry, speak very little in his favor : they are full 
of such assertions as this (I have opened one of his volumes at 
random) : " Of genius the only proof is the act of doing well what is 
worthy to be done, and what was never done before " ^ — indeed I then 
it follows that in doing what is z/y/worthy to be done, or what has been 
done before, no genius can be evinced : yet the picking of pockets 
is an unworthy act, pockets have been picked time immemorial, and 
Barrington, the pick-pocket, in point of genius, would have thought 
hard of a comparison with William Wordsworth, the poet. 

Again — in estimating the merit of certain poems, whether they be 
Ossian's or M'Pherson's, can surely be of litde consequence, yet, in 
order to prove their worthlessness, Mr. W. has expended many pages 
in the controversy. Taiitccne aniinis? Can great minds descend to 
such absurdity .? But worse still : that he may bear down every argu- 
ment in favor of these poems, he triumphantly drags forward a passage, 

1 For "glacier" 1831 reads "avalanche." 

■-' From Wordsworth's Essay SuppUmentiuy to the Preface (Prose Works, 
ed. Knight, H, p. 251). 



3i6 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

in his abomination of which he expects the reader to sympathize. It 
is the beginning of the epic poem Temot^a. " The blue waves of UUin 
roll in light; the green hills are covered with day; trees shake their 
dusky heads in the breeze." And this — this gorgeous, yet simple 
imagery, where all is alive and panting with immortality ^ — this, William 
Wordsworth, the author of Peter Bell, has selected for his contempt.^ 
We shall see what better he, in his own person, has to offer. Imprimis : 

And now she 's at the pony's head, 
And now she 's at the pony's tail, 
On that side now, and now on this, 
And almost stifled her with bliss — 
A few sad tears does Betty shed, 
She pats the pony where or when 
She knows not : happy Betty Foy ! 
O Johnny ! never mind the Doctor ! 
Secondly : 

The dew was falling fast, the — stars began to blink, 

I heard a voice ; it said drink, pretty creature, drink ; 

And, looking o'er the hedge, be — fore me I espied 
A snow-white mountain lamb, with a — maiden at its side. 
No other sheep were near, the lamb was all alone. 
And by a slender cord was — tether'd to a stone.^ 

Now, we have no doubt this is all true ; we will believe it, indeed, we 
will, Mr. W. Is it sympathy for the sheep you wish to excite? I love 
a sheep from the bottom of my heart. 

*********** 

But there are occasions, dear B -, there are occasions when even 

Wordsworth is reasonable. Even Stamboul, it is said, shall have an 
end, and the most unlucky blunders must come to a conclusion. Here 
is an extract from his preface — 

" Those who have been accustomed to the phraseology of modern 
writers, if they persist in reading this book to a conclusion (impossible /) 
will, no doubt, have to struggle with feelings of awkwardness; (ha! 
ha ! ha !) they will look round for poetry (ha ! ha ! ha ! ha !) and will 

1 After the word " immortality," 1831 inserts the following : " than which 
earth has nothing more grand, nor paradise more beautiful." 

2 For the phrase " for his contempt," 1831 substitutes : " to dignify with 
his imperial contempt." 

^ The first of these passages is from Wordsworth's The Idiot Boy, 
11. 382-386, 392-393, 397 ; the second is from his The Pet Lamb (slightly 
garbled), 11. 1-6. 



APPENDIX 317 

be induced to inquire by what species of courtesy these attempts have 
been permitted to assume that title." Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! 

Yet let not Mr. W. despair ; he has given immortality to a wagon, 
and the bee Sophocles has transmitted to eternity^ a sore toe, and 
dignified a tragedy with a chorus of turkeys. 

*********** 

Of Coleridge I cannot speak but with reverence. His towering 
intellect! his gigantic power! He is one more evidence of the fact^ 
" que la plupart des sectes ont raison dans une bonne partie de ce 
qu'elles avancent, mais non pas en ce qu'elles nient." He has* im- 
prisoned his own conceptions by the barrier he has erected against 
those of others. It is lamentable to think that such a mind sliould be 
buried in metaphysics, and, like the Nyctanthes, waste its perfume upon 
the night alone. In reading his * poetry I tremble — like one who stands 
upon a volcano, conscious, from the very darkness bursting from the 
crater, of the fire and the light that are weltering below. 

*********** 

What is Poetry ? — Poetry ! that Proteus-like idea, with as many ap- 
pellations as the nine-titled Corcyra ! Give me, I demanded of a scholar 
some time ago, give me a definition of poetry. " Tres-volontiers," — 
and he proceeded to his library, brought me a Dr. Johnson, and over- 
whelmed me with a definition. Shade of the immortal Shakespeare ! 
I imagined to myself the scowl of your spiritual eye upon the profanity 

of that scurrilous Ursa Major. Think of poetry, dear B , think of 

poetry, and then think of — Dr. Samuel Johnson! Think of all that 
is airy and fairy-like, and then of all that is hideous and unwieldy; 
think of his huge bulk, the Elephant ! and then — and then think of 
the Tempest — the Midsummer Nighfs Dream — Prospero — Oberon 
— and Titania ! 

A poem, in my opinion, is opposed to a work of science by having, 
for its immedhi/e object, pleasure, not truth ; to romance, by having for 
its object an indefinite instead of a definite pleasure, being a poem only 
so far as this object is attained ; romance presenting perceptible images 

1 Instead of " transmitted to eternity," 1831 has " eternalized." 
- For this clause 1831 substitutes : " To use an author quoted by himself, 
'J'ai trouve souvent.' " 

* Before the words " He has," 1831 inserts : " and, to employ his own 
language." 

* Instead of " his," 1831 reads " that man's." 



3l8 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

with definite, poetry with zVzdefinite sensations, to which end music is 
an essential^ since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most 
indefinite conception. Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, 
is poetry; music without the idea is simply music; the idea without 
the music is prose from its very definitiveness. 

What was meant by the invective against him who had no music 
in his soul ? 

*********** 

To sum up this long rigmarole, I have, dear B , what you no 

doubt perceive, for the metaphysical poets, as poets, the most sover- 
eign contempt. That they have followers proves nothing — 

No Indian prince has to his palace 

More followers than a thief to the gallows.i 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION 2 

Charles Dickens, in a note now lying before me, alluding to an 
examination I once made of the mechanism of Barnaby Rtidge, says 
— " By the way, are you aware that Godwin wrote his Caleb Williatns 
backwards 1 He first involved his hero in a web of difficulties, forming 
the second volume, and then, for the first, cast about him for some 
mode of accounting for what had been done." 

I cannot think this the precise mode of procedure on the part of 
Godwin — and indeed what he himself acknowledges is not altogether 
in accordance with Mr. Dickens' idea — but the autlior of Caleb 
Williams was too good an artist not to perceive the advantage de- 
rivable from at least a somewhat similar process. Nothing is more 
clear than that every plot, worth the name, must be elaborated to its 
denouement before anything be attempted with the pen. It is only 
with the denoueme7tt constantly in view that we can give a plot its 
indispensable air of consequence, or causation, by making the incidents, 
and especially the tone at all points, tend to the development of the 
intention. 

There is a radical error, I think, in the usual mode of constructing 
a story. Either history affords a thesis — or one is suggested by an 
incident of the day — or, at best, the author sets himself to work in 

1 The source of these lines I have been unable to discover. 

2 Reprinted from Griswold's edition of Fee's Works, II, pp. 259-270 
(with slight revisions in spelling and punctuation). 



APPENDIX 319 

the combination of striking events to form merely the basis of his 
narrative — designing, generally, to fill in with description, dialogue, 
or autorial comment, whatever crevices of fact, or action, may, from 
page to page, render themselves apparent. 

I prefer commencing with the consideration of an effect. Keeping 
originality always in view — for he is false to himself who ventures 
to dispense with so obvious and so easily attainable a source of interest 
— I say to myself, in the first place : " Of the innumerable effects, or 
impressions, of which the heart, the intellect, or (more generally) the 
soul is susceptible, what one shall I, on the present occaajoi^r^elBct ? " 
Having chosen a novel, first, and, secondly, a vivid effect/S-^consider 
whether it can be best wrought by incident or tone — wjrether by 
ordinary incidents and peculiar tone, or the converse, or b^-pgculiaritji 
both of incident and tone — afterward looking about me (or rather 
within) for such combinations of event, or tone, as shall best aid me 
in the construction of the effect. 

I have often thought how interesting a magazine paper might be 
written by any author who would — that is to say, who could — detail, 
step by step, the processes by which any one of his compositions 
attained its ultimate point of completion. Why such a paper has never 
been given to the world, I am much at a loss to say — but, perhaps, 
the autorial vanity has had more to do with the omission than any 
one other cause. Most writers — poets in especial — prefer having 
it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy — an 
ecstatic intuition — and would positively shudder at letting the public 
take a peep behind the scenes, at the elaborate and vacillating crudities 
of thought — at the true purposes seized only at the last moment — at 
the innumerable glimpses of idea that arrived not at the maturity of full 
view — at the fully matured fancies discarded in despair as unmanage- 
able — at the cautious selections and rejections — at the painful erasures 
and interpolations — in a word, at the wheels and pinions — the tackle 
for scene-shifting — the step-ladders and demon-traps — the cock's 
feathers, the red paint and the black patches, which, in ninety-nine 
cases out of the hundred, constitute the properties of the literary liistrio. 

I am aware, on the other hand, that the case is by no means 
common, in which an author is at all in condition to retrace the steps 
by which his conclusions have been attained. In general, suggestions, 
having arisen pell-mell, are pursued and forgotten in a similar manner. 

For my own part, I have neither sympathy with the repugnance 
alluded to, nor, at any time, the least difficulty in recalling to mind 



320 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN FOE 

the progressd\"e steps of any of my compositions; and, since the in- 
terest of an anah-sis. or reconstruction, such as I have considered a 
iUsti^rm/um, is quite independent of any real or fancied interest in 
the thing- anah-sed, it will not be regarded as a breach of decorum on 
my part to show the wt\/us openuuii by which some one of my own 
works was put together. I select T^e Rax-ini as most generally known. 
It is my design to render it manifest that no one point in its composition 
is referribl^ either to accident or intuition — that the work proceeded, 
step by step, to its completion with the precision and rigid consequence 
of a mathematical pn>blem. 

Let us dismiss, as irrele\-ant to the poem, per se\ the circumstance 
— or s;\v the necessity — which, in the first place, ga\-e rise to the 
intention of composing ./ poem that should suit at once the popular 
and the critical taste. 

We commence, then, with this intention. 

The initial consideration was that of extent. If any literar\- work is 
too long to be read at one sitting, we must be content to dispense with 
the immensely important effect derix^able from unity of impression — 
for, if two sittings be required, the aflPairs of the world interfere, and 
ex'erithing like tofeUity is at once destroyed. But since, ctftn's pan'Ptts, 
no poet can afford to dispense with ^mr tkut^ that may ad\-ance his 
design, it but remains to be seen whether there is, in extent, any ad\-an- 
tage to cx>unterhalance the loss of unity which .attends it. Here I say 
no, at once. What we tem\ a long poem is, in fact, merely a succession 
of brief ones — that is to say, of brief poetic:U effects. It is needless to 
demonstrate that a ix»em is such, only inasmuch as it intensely excites, 
by ele\-ating, the soul : and all intense excitements are, through a p>sychal 
necessity, brief. For this reason, at least one half of the J\inuiisg 
LtXff is essentially pro>se — a succession of poetical excitements inter- 
spersed. iftrx'/Ai^lv, with corresponding depressions — the whole being 
depri\-^, through the extremeness of its length, of the \-asdy important 
artistic element, totality-, or unity, of effect. 

It appears evident, then, that there is a distinct limit, as r^ards 
leiigth, to all w-orks of literary- art — the hmit of a single sitting — and 
that, although in certain classes of prose composition, such as /Ho^iMscm 
Cnmv (demanding no unity\ this limit may be ad\-antageously o\-er- 
passed, it can never properly be o\-erpassed in a poem. Within this 
limit, the extent of a poem nvay be made to bear mathematical rdauon 
to its merit — in other words, to the excitement or elex-ation — again, 
in other words, to the degree of the true poetical effect which it is 



APPENDIX 321 

capable of inducing ; for it is clear that the brevity must be in direct 
ratio of tlic intensity of the intended effect : — this, with one proviso — 
that a certain degree of duration is absolutely reciuisile for the produc- 
tion of any effect at all. 

Holding in view these considerations, as well as that degree of 
excitement which I deemed not above the popular, while not below 
the critical, taste, I reached at once what I conceived the jMoper /f/i^lh 
for my intended poem — a length of about one huncheil liiTcs. It is, in 
fact, a hundred and eight. 

My next thought concerned the choice of an impression, or effect, 
to be conveyed ; and here I may as well observe that, throughout the 
construction, 1 kept steadily in view the design of rendering the work 
t/tihu-rsii//}' appreciable. 1 should be carried too far out of my im- 
mediate topic were I to demonstrate a point upon which ! ha\'e 
repeatedly insisted, and which, with the poetical, stands not in the 
slightest need of demonstration — the point, I mean, that Beauty is 
the sole legitimate province of the poem. A few words, however, in 
elucidation of my real meaning, Which some of my friends have evinced 
a disposidon to misrepresent. That pleasure which is at once the most 
intqnse, the most elevating, and the most pure, is, I believe, found in 
the contemplation of the beautiful. When, indeed, men speak of 
Beauty, they mean, precisely, not a quality, as is supposed, but an 
effect — they refer, in short, just to that intense and pure elevation 
of soul — ziflt of intellect, or of heart — upon which I have commented, 
and which is experienced in consequence of contemplating " the beauti- 
ful." Now I designate Beauty as the province of the poem, merely 
because it is an obvious rule of Art that effects should be made to 
spring from direct causes — that objects should be attained through 
means best adapted for their attainment — no one as yet having 
been weak enough to deny that the peculiar elevation alluded to is 
most readily attained in the poem. Now the object. Truth, or the 
satisfaction of the intellect, and the object, Passion, or the excitement 
of the heart, are, although attainable to a certain extent in poetry, far 
more readily attainable in prose. Truth, in fact, demands a precision, 
and Passion a honicliness (the truly passionate will comprehend me) 
which are absolutely antagonisdc to that Beauty which, I maintain, is 
the excitement, or pleasurable elevation, of the soul. It by no means 
follows from anything here said that passion, or even truth, may not 
be introduced, and even profitably introduced, into a poem — for they 
may serve in elucidation, or aid the general effect, as do discords in 



322 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

music, by contrast — but the true artist will always contrive, first, to 
tone them into proper subservience to the predominant aim, and, 
secondly, to enveil them, as far as possible, in that Beauty which 
is the atmosphere and the essence of the poem. 

Regarding, then. Beauty as my province, my next question referred 
to the tone of its highest manifestation — and all experience has shown 
that this tone is one of sadness. Beauty of whatever kind, in its 
supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. 
Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the poetical tones. 

The length, the province, and the tone being thus determined, I 
betook myself to ordinary induction, with the view of obtaining some 
artistic piquancy which might serve me as a key-note in the construction 
of the poem — some pivot upon which the whole structure might turn. 
In carefully thinking over all the usual artistic effects — or more properly 
poitits.^ in the theatrical sense — I did not fail to perceive immediately 
that no one had been so universally employed as that of the refrain. 
The universality of its employment sufficed to assure me of its intrinsic 
value, and spared me the necessity of submitting it to analysis. I con- 
sidered it, however, with regard to its susceptibility of improvement, 
and soon saw it to be in a primitive condition. As commonly used, 
the refrain., or burden, not only is limited to lyric verse, but depends 
for its impression upon the force of monotone — both in sound and 
thought. The pleasure is deduced solely from the sense of identity 

— of repetition. I resolved to diversify, and so heighten, the effect, 
by adhering, in general, to the monotone of sound, while I continually 
varied that of thought : that is to say, I determined to produce continu- 
ously novel effects, by the variation of the application of the refj-ain 

— the refrain itself remaining, for the most part, unvaried. 

These points being settled, I next bethought me of the nature of 
my 7'efrain. Since its application was to be repeatedly varied, it was 
clear that the 7'efrain itself must be brief, for there would have been 
an insurmountable difficulty in frequent variations of application in any 
sentence of length. In proportion to the brevity of the sentence, would, 
of course, be the facility of the variation. This led me at once to a 
single word as the best refrain. 

The question now arose as to the character of the word. Having 
made up my mind to a 7'efrain., the division of the poem into stanzas 
was, of course, a corollary : the refrai7i forming the close to each stanza. 
That such a close, to have force, must be sonorous and susceptible 
of protracted emphasis, admitted no doubt; and these considerations 



APPENDIX 323 

inevitably led me to the long o as the most sonorous vowel in connec- 
tion with r as the most producible consonant. 

The sound of the refrain being thus determined, it became necessary 
to select a word embodying this sound, and at the same time in the 
fullest possible keeping with that melancholy which I had predetermined 
as the tone of the poem. In such a search it would have been absolutely 
impossible to overlook the word " Nevermore." In fact, it was the very 
first which presented itself. 

The next desideratum was a pretext for the continuous use of the 
one word " Nevermore." In observing the difficulty which I at once 
found in inventing a sufficiently plausible reason for its continuous 
repetition, I did not fail to perceive that this difficulty arose solely from 
the pre-assumption that the word was to be so continuously or monoto- 
nously spoken by a human being — I did not fail to perceive, in short, 
that the difficulty lay in the reconciliation of this monotony with the 
exercise of reason on the part of the creature repeating the word. Here, 
then, immediately arose the idea of a ;/(?«-reasoning creature capable of 
speech ; and very naturally, a parrot, in the first instance, suggested 
itself, but was superseded forthwith by a Raven, as equally capable 
of speech, and infinitely more in keeping with the intended tone. 

I had now gone so far as the conception of a Raven — the bird of ill- 
omen — monotonously repeating the one word "Nevermore" at the 
conclusion of each stanza, in a poem of melancholy tone, and in length 
about one hundred lines. Now, never losing sight of the object 
sKpremeness^ or perfection, at all points, I asked myself : " Of all melan- 
choly topics what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, 
is the 7ftost melancholy .? " Death — was the obvious reply. " And when," 
I said, " is this most melancholy of topics most poetical 1 " From 
what I have already explained at some length, the answer, here also, is 
obvious ^ — "When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death, 
then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic 
in the world — and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited 
for such topic are those of a bereaved lover." 

I had now to combine the two ideas, of a lover lamenting his deceased 
mistress and a Raven continuously repeating the word " Nevermore." — 
I had to combine these, bearing in mind my design of varying, at every 
turn, the application of the word repeated ; but the only intelligible 
mode of such combination is that of imagining the Raven employing 
the word in answer to the queries of the lover. And here it was that I 
saw at once the opportunity afforded for the effect on which I had been 



324 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

depending — that is to say, the effect of the variation of application. 
I saw that I could make the first query propounded by the lover — the 
first query to which the Raven should reply "Nevermore" — that 
I could make this first query a commonplace one — the second less so — 
the third sdll less, and so on — until at length the lover, startled from 
his original nonchalance by the melancholy character of the word itself 
— by its frequent repetition — and by a consideration of the ominous 
reputation of the fowl that uttered it — is at length excited to superstition, 
and wildly propounds queries of a far different character — queries 
whose solution he has passionately at heart — propounds them half in 
superstition and half in that species of despair which delights in self- 
torture — propounds them not altogether because he beheves in the 
prophetic or demoniac character of the bird (which, reason assures him, 
is merely repeating a lesson learned by rote), but because he experiences 
a frenzied pleasure in so modelling his questions as to receive from the 
expected " Nevermore " the most delicious because the most intolerable 
of sorrow. Perceiving the opportunity thus afforded me, or, more 
strictly, thus forced upon me in the progress of the construction, I first 
established in mind the climax, or concluding query — that query to 
which " Nevermore " should be in the last place an answer — that query 
in reply to which this word " Nevermore " should involve the utmost 
conceivable amount of sorrow and despair. 

Here, then, the poem may be said to have its beginning — at the end, 
where all works of art should begin ; for it was here, at this point of my 
preconsiderations, that I first put pen to paper in the composition of the 
stanza : — 

" Prophet," said I, " thing of evil ! prophet still if bird or devil ! 
By that heaven that bends above us — by that God we both adore, 
Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aidenn, 
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore — 
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore." 
Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 

I composed this "stanza, at this point, first that, by establishing the 
climax, I might the better vary and graduate, as regards seriousness 
and importance, the preceding queries of the lover, and, secondly, that I 
might definitely settie the rhythm, the metre, and the length and general 
arrangement of the stanza, as well as graduate the stanzas which were 
to precede, so that none of them might surpass this in rhythmical 
effect. Had I been able, in the subsequent composition, to construct 



APPENDIX 325 

more vigorous stanzas, I should, without scruple, have purposely 
enfeebled them, so as not to interfere with the climacteric effect. 

And here I may as well say a few words of the versification. My first 
object (as usual) was originality. The extent to which this has been 
neglected, in versification, is one of the most unaccountable things in 
the world. Admitting that there is litde possibility of variety in mere 
7-hyth»i, it is still clear that the possible varieties of metre and stanza 
are absolutely infinite — and yet, y^r centuries^ 110 7/iaji, hi verse, has 
ever done, or ever seemed to think of doing, an origitial thing. The 
fact is, that originality (unless in minds of very unusual force) is by no 
means a matter, as some suppose, of impulse or intuition. In general, 
to be found, it must be elaborately sought, and although a positive 
merit of the highest class, demands in its attainment less of invention 
than negation. 

Of course, I pretend to no originality in either the rhythm or metre 
of the Raven. The former is trochaic — the latter is octameter 
acatalectic, alternating with heptameter catalectic repeated in the refrain 
of the fifth verse, and terminating with tetrameter catalectic. Less 
pedantically — the feet employed throughout (trochees) consist of a long 
syllable followed by a short : the first line of the stanza consists of 
eight of these feet — the second of seven and a half (in effect two- 
thirds) — the third of eight — the fourth of seven and a half — the 
fifth the same — the sixth three and a half. Now, each of these lines, 
taken individually, has been employed before, and what originality 
the Raven has, is in their combination into stanza ; nothing even 
remotely approaching this combination has ever been attempted. The 
effect of this originality of combination is aided by other unusual, and 
some altogether novel effects, arising from an extension of the applica- 
tion of the principles of rhyme and alliteration. 

The next point to be considered was the mode of bringing together 
the lover and the Raven — and the first branch of this consideration 
was the locale. For this the most natural suggestion might seem to be 
a forest, or the fields — but it has always appeared to me that a close 
circtimscription of space is absolutely necessary to the effect of insulated 
incident — it has the force of a frame to a picture. It has an indispu- 
table moral power in keeping concentrated the attention, and, of course, 
must not be confounded with mere unity of place. 

I determined, then, to place the lover in his chamber — in a chamber 
rendered sacred to him by memories of her who had frequented it. The 
room is represented as richly furnished — this in mere pursuance of the 



326 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

ideas I have already explained on the subject of Beauty, as the' sole true 
poetical thesis. 

The locale being thus determined, I had now to introduce the bird — 
and the thought of introducing him through the window was inevitable. 
The idea of making the lover suppose, in the first instance, that the 
flapping of the wings of the bird against the shutter, is a " tapping " at 
the door, originated in a wish to increase, by prolonging, the reader's 
curiosity, and in a desire to admit the incidental effect arising from the 
lover's throwing open the door, finding all dark, and thence adopting 
the half-fancy that it was the spirit of his mistress that knocked. 

I made the night tempestuous, first, to account for the Raven's seek- 
ing admission, and, secondly, for the effect of contrast with the (physical) 
serenity within the chamber. 

I made the bird alight on the bust of Pallas, also for the effect of 
contrast between the marble and the plumage — it being understood 
that the bust was absolutely suggested by the bird — the bust of Pallas 
being chosen, first, as most in keeping with the scholarship of the 
lover, and, secondly, for the sonorousness of the word, Pallas, itself. 

About the middle of the poem, also, I have availed myself of the 
force of contrast, with a view of deepening the ultimate impression. 
For example, an air of the fantastic — approaching as nearly to the 
ludicrous as was admissible — is given to the Raven's entrance. He 
comes in " with many a flirt and flutter." 

Not the least obeisance made he — not a moment stopped or stayed he, 
But with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door. 

In the two stanzas which follow, the design is more obviously 
carried out : — 

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling 
By ^h& grave and steiii decorum of the countenance it %vore, 
" Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, " art sure no craven, 
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the nightly shore — 
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore ? " 
Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 

Much I marvelled this imgainly fozol to hear discourse so plainly, 
Though its answer little meaning — little relevancy bore; 
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being 
Ever yet was blest with seeing bij-d above his chamber door — 
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bitst above his chamber door, 
With such name as " Nevermore." 



APPENDIX 327 

The effect of the denoue»te}it being thus provided for, I immediately 
drop the fantastic for a tone of the most profound seriousness — this 
tone commencing in the stanza directly following the one last quoted, 
with the line, 

But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only, etc. 

From this epoch the lover no longer jests — no longer sees anything 
even of the fantastic in the Raven's demeanor. He speaks of him as 
a " grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore," and 
feels the " fiery eyes " burning into his " bosom's core." This revolution 
of thought, or fancy, on the lover's part, is intended to induce a similar 
one on the part of the reader — to bring the mind into a proper frame 
for the denouement — which is now brought about as rapidly and as 
directly as possible. 

With the denouement proper — with the Raven's reply, " Never- 
more," to the lover's final demand if he shall meet his mistress in 
another world — the poem, in its obvious phase, that of a simple nar- 
rative, may be said to have its completion. So far, everything is within 
the limits of the accountable — of the real. A raven, having learned 
by rote the single word " Nevermore," and having escaped from the 
custody of its owner, is driven at midnight, through the violence of 
a storm, to seek admission at a window from which a light still gleams 
— the chamber-window of a student, occupied half in poring over 
a volume, half in dreaming of a beloved mistress deceased. The case- 
ment being thrown open at the fluttering of the bird's wings, the bird 
itself perches on the most convenient seat out of the immediate reach 
of the student, who, amused by the incident and the oddity of the 
visitor's demeanor, demands of it, in jest and without looking for a 
reply, its name. The raven, addressed, answers with its customary 
word, " Nevermore " — a word which finds immediate echo in the 
melancholy heart of the student, who, giving utterance aloud to certain 
thoughts suggested by the occasion, is again startled by the fowl's 
repetition of " Nevermore." The student now guesses the state of 
the case, but is impelled, as I have before explained, by the human 
thirst for self-torture, and in part by superstition, to propound such 
queries to the bird as will bring him, the lover, the most of the luxury 
of sorrow, through the anticipated answer " Nevermore." With the 
indulgence, to the extreme, of this self-torture, the narration, in what 
I have termed its first or obvious phase, has a natural termination, 
and so far there has been no overstepping of the limits of the real. 



328 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

But in subjects so handled, however skilfully, or with however vivid 
an array of incident, there is always a certain hardness or nakedness, 
which repels the artistical eye. Two things are invariably required 
— first, some amount of complexity, or more properly, adaptation ; 
and, secondly, some amount of suggestiveness — some undercurrent, 
however indefinite, of meaning. It is this latter, in especial, which 
imparts to a work of art so much of that ?ichness (to borrow from 
colloquy a forcible term) which we are too fond of confounding with 
the ideal. It is the excess of the suggested meaning — it is the render- 
ing this the upper instead of the under current of the theme — which 
turns into prose (and that of the very flattest kind) the so-called poetry 
of the so-called transcendentalists. 

Holding these opinions, I added the two concluding stanzas of the 
poem.- — • their suggestiveness being thus made to pervade all the nar- 
rative which has preceded them. The undercurrent of meaning is 
rendered first apparent in the lines : 

" Take thy beak from out my keaii, and take thy form from off my door ! " 
Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore ! " 

It will be observed that the words, " from out my heart," involve 
the first metaphorical expression in the poem. They, with the answer, 
" Nevermore," dispose the mind to seek a moral in all that has been 
previously narrated. The reader begins now to regard the Raven as 
emblematical — but it is not until the very last Une of the very last 
stanza, that the intention of making him emblematical of Mouhiful 
and Never-ending Remembrance is permitted distinctly to be seen : 

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting 
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door ; 
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, 
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor ; 
And my soul /r^w out that shadow that lies floating on the floor 
Shall be lifted — nevermore. 



INDEX OF FIRST LINES 

PAGE 

A thousand, a thousand, a thousand 137 

Ah, broken is the golden bowl ! — the spirit flown forever 68 

As for Locke, he is all in mj^ eye 138 

As turns the eye to bless the hand that led its infant years .... 145 

At midnight, in the month of June 63 

At morn — at noon — at twilight dim 78 

Because I feel that, in the Heavens above 133 

Beloved ! amid the earnest woes 79 

By a route obscure and lonely 107 

Dim vales — and shadowy floods — 53 

Elizabeth, it is in vain you say 136 

Elizabeth, it surely is most fit ... ■ 136 

Fair isle, that from the fairest of all flowers 102 

Fair river ! in thy bright, clear flow 51 

Flow softly — gently — vital stream 139 

For her these lines are penned, whose luminous eyes 115 

From childhood's hour I have not been 138 

Gaily bedight 12S 

Hear the sledges with the bells .122 

Helen, thy beauty is to me 56 

I dwelt alone 114 

I heed not that my earthly lot 52 

I saw thee on thy bridal day 21 

I saw thee once — once only — years ago 126 

In the greenest of our valleys 102 

In Heaven a spirit doth dwell 57 

In spring of youth it was my lot 32 

In visions of the dark night 30 

In youth have I known one with whom the Earth 28 

It was many and many a year ago 134 

Kind solace in a dying hour ! i 

Lady! I would that verse of mine 144 

Lo ! Death has reared himself a throne 59 

Lo! 't is a gala night 105 

Not long ago, the writer of these lines 121 

329 



330 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 

PAGE 

O ! NOTHING earthly save the ray 34 

Of all who hail thy presence as the morning 116 

Oh ! that my young life were a lasting dream ! 22 

Once it smiled a silent dell 72 

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary . 109 

Romance, who loves to nod and sing 49 

Science ! true daughter of Old Time thou art ! 33 

See the White Eagle soaring aloft to the sky 141 

" Seldom we find," says Solomon Don Dunce 121 

Take this kiss upon the brow 26 

Thank Heaven! the crisis 129 

The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see 51 

The happiest day, the happiest hour 31 

The only king by right divine ' 143 

The ring is on my hand ico 

The skies they were ashen and sober 117 

There are some qualities — some incorporate things 104 

They have giv'n her to another 140 

Thou art sad, Castiglione 80 

Thou wast that all to me, love 77 

Thou wouldst be loved ? — then let thy heart 80 

Thy soul shall find itself alone 23 

'Twas noontide of summer 25 

Type of the antique Rome ! Rich reliquary 75 

When from your gems of thought I turn 142 

When melancholy and alone 139 

Where the river ever floweth 142 

Who is king but Epiphanes ? 137 



INDEX OF TITLES 



Acrostic, An, 136, 297 
Al Aaraaf, 34, 171 
Alone, 138, 299 
Annabel Lee', 134, 293 
Annie, For. See For Annie 

Ballad, 140, 301 

Bells, The (The Bells. — A Song), 

122, 27S 
Bridal Ballad (Ballad; Song of the 

Newly- Wedded), 100, 234 

Campaign Song, Fragment of. See 
Fragment of a Campaign Song 

Catholic Hymn. See Hymn 

City in the Sea, The (The Doomed 
City ; The Cit}^ of Sin), 59, 207 

Coliseum, The (The Coliseum. A 
Prize Poem), 75, 218 

Conqueror Worm, The, 105, 242 

Departed, The, 142, 302 

Divine Right of Kings, The, 143, 

303 

Doomed City, The. See The City 
in the Sea 

Dream, A, 30, 166 

Dream within a Dream, A (Imita- 
tion ; To — ), 26, 161 

Dream-Land, 107, 244 

Dreams, 22, 157 



Eldorado, 128, 286 
Elizabeth, 136, 297 
Enigma, An (Sonnet), 



Eulalie — A Song, 114, 259 
Evening Star, 25, 160 

Fairy-Land, 53, 197 
For Annie, 129, 287 
Fragment of a Campaign Song, 
301 



Gratitude: To 



'45' 304 



zie 



Haunted Palace, The, 102, 237 

"' Happiest Day, the Happiest Hour, 

The," 31, 166 
Helen, To. See To Helen 
Hymn (CathoHc Hymn), 78, 222 

Imitation. See Dream within a 

Dream, A 
Impromptu: To Kate Carol, 142, 302 
Introduction. See Romance 
Irene. See Sleeper, The 
Israfel, 57, 203 

Lake, The : To , 32, 167 

Latin Hymn, 137, 298 
Lenore (A Paean), 68, 214 
Lines to Louisa, 139, 299 

Mary, To. See To F 

Mother, To My. See To My Mother 

Paean, A. See Lenore 

Politian. See Scenes from " Poli- 

tian" 
Preface. See Romance 



331 



332 



THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 



Raven, The, 109, 246 

River. See To the River 

Romance (Preface; Introduction), 
49, 192 

Sarah, To. See To Sarah 
Scenes from " Pohtian," An Un- 
pubUshed Drama (Scenes from 
an Unpublished Drama), 80, 227 
Science. See Sonnet — -To Science 
Silence. »S>^ Sonnet — Silence 
Sleeper, The (Irene), 63, 211 
Song (" I saw thee on thy bridal 

day"), (To ), 21, 156 

Song of the Newly- Wedded. See 

Bridal Ballad 
Song of Triumph, 137, 29S 
Sonnet — Silence (Silence. A Son- 
net), 104, 240 
Sonnet — To Science (Sonnet), 33, 

169 
Sonnet — To Zante, 102, 235 
Spirits of the Dead (Visit of the 

Dead), 23, 158 
Stanzas (" In youth have I known 
onewithwhomthe Earth"), 28, 163 
Stanzas (" Lady ! I would that verse 
of mine"), 144, 303 

Tamerlane, i, 147 

To (" I heed not that my earthly 

lot"), (To M ), 52, 196 

To (" Not long ago, 

the writer of these lines "), 1 2 1 , 277 
To (" Should my early 

life seem"). See Dream within a 

Dream, A 
To (" The bowers whereat, in 

dreams, I see"), 51, 194 



To F (To Mary ; To One De- 
parted), 79, 224 

To F s S. O d (Lines Writ- 
ten in an Album ; To ; To 

F ), 80, 226 

To Helen (" Helen, thy beauty is 
to me "), 56, 199 

To Helen (" I saw thee once — 

once only — years ago"), (To 

), 126,283 

To lanthe in Heaven. See To One 
in Paradise 

To M . See To (" I heed 

not that my earthly lot") 

To M. L. S , 116, 264 

To My Mother (Sonnet— To My 
Mother), 133, 291 

To One Departed. See To F 

To One in Paradise (To lanthe in 
Heaven), 77, 221 

To the River , 51, 195 

To Sarah, 139, 300 



Ulalume — A Ballad, 



265 



Valentine, A (To Her Whose Name 
is Written Below: A Valentine. 
To ), 115, 261 

Valley Nis, The. See Valley of Un- 
rest, The 

Valley of Unrest, The (The Valley 
Nis), 72, 217 

Visit of the Dead. See Spirits of 
the Dead 

West Point Lampoon, A, 138, 299 

Zante. See Sonnet — To Zante 








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